Battikha Wins Long Jump, Kelati Sets MW Record on Day Two
PHOTO GALLERY | MEN’S RESULTS | WOMEN’S RESULTS
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— The University of New Mexico had plenty of positives on Friday at the Albuquerque Convention Center, successfully advancing 11 runners to the finals on Saturday and having three student-athletes earn their way on to the podium, including one event win.
In addition, of note on the second day of the MW Indoor Track and Field Championships was Weini Kelati’s record-setting race in the preliminary round of the mile.
Having been a two-time MW Women’s Track Athlete of the Week and breaking two UNM program records already this season, Kelati added a Mountain West meet record with a recorded time of 4:42.26, easily cruising through the final line and winning the heat by over 17 seconds. Her time was almost 12 seconds faster than the second-best qualifying time and was 0.07 seconds faster than the previous MW meet record.
Kelati easily wins her heat with 4:42.26 and sets a MW MEET RECORD!#GoLobos pic.twitter.com/CBlNRStW1N
— New Mexico XC/T&F (@UNMLoboXCTF) February 23, 2019
UNM picked up its first event win of the meet in the men’s long jump, with Tanner Battikha taking the event by 7.5″ (0.19m) over the next competitor. He was one of three Lobos that claimed a spot on the podium on the day, two of which came as a result of setting PRs, but the only one to make it to the top spot.
Battikha won the long jump with a personal-best mark of 24-6.25 (7.47m) that he achieved on his fourth attempt. His mark places him 10th all-time in individual performances in school history as well. He entered with a personal best of 24-1 (7.34m), which he beat or matched on three of his six attempts in the competition. It was the junior’s first indoor championship after finishing third in the event the last two years.
Tanner Battikha gets interviewed after winning the long jump with a personal-best 7.47m.#GoLobos pic.twitter.com/0qrIGbvLyj
— New Mexico Lobos (@UNMLOBOS) February 23, 2019
After a solid start to the heptathlon on Thursday, Camillo Dunninger closed the second day of the multi-event with 5263 points for a runner-up finish. His point total was not only a personal best, but it also tied for fifth all-time in program history.
The sophomore kicked off the second day of the MW Championships with an 8.75 in the 60-meter hurdles to tally 802 points to his overall day one score of 2888. Dunninger used a strong pole vault score of 15-5 (4.70m) for 819 points to improve from third to second and held the position through the final event, the 1000-meter run. In the last event of the heptathlon, Dunninger scored 754 points with a time of 2:51. 10 to break his personal best score by 477 points. His 4786 points from the 2018 MW Championship placed him seventh last year, making it a five-spot improvement this year.
Emily Martin concluded the day with a place on the podium, finishing third with 17:19.48 in the women’s 5000-meter.
On the track, the Lobos’ objective was to qualify for Saturday’s finals which UNM had several runners do, with some events producing multiple qualifiers to help the Lobos pick up points on Saturday.
Jay Griffin ran a 21.44 in the 200-meter dash preliminaries, which was the fastest time recorded in the preliminaries, to qualify for the final on Saturday at 1:20 p.m.
Joining Kelati in the women’s final on Saturday at 11:50 a.m. MT, Kieran Casey qualified with the sixth-fastest time in the mile preliminaries after running 4:59.61.
In the men’s mile preliminary heats, Jonny Glen qualified for the men’s mile final after running 4:18.43, turning in the fifth-fastest time in the round. That final will lead off the track events on Saturday at 11:40 a.m.
Ben Parmoon qualified for the 400-meter dash final with the fourth-fastest time in the preliminary round in a time of 49.17 and will run in the final at 12:20 p.m.
Elijah Lilly and Lawrence Johnson both advanced to the 60-meter dash final scheduled for 12:40 p.m. with times of 6.80 and 6.97, respectively, in the preliminary round.
The Lobos finished with four qualifiers in the men’s 800-meter, with three coming by automatic qualifiers. Michael Wilson (1:53.28), Kristian Hansen (1:52.56) and Max Wharton (1:53.37) all advanced to the 800-meter final after posting the third-, fourth- and fifth-best times in the preliminary round heats. Gavin Sleeter qualified as well with the eighth-fastest time in the event, with 1:54.33. The group will look to produce similar results and accumulate points for the team total when they run the final at 1 p.m. Saturday.
The Lobos picked up more points in the final field event of the day, the men’s high jump.
Brent Dionisio tied for fifth in the high jump with a clearance of 6-5.00 (1.96m).
After six events scored, the men are in fourth with 27 team points and the women are tied for sixth with 14 points.
The final day of competition starts at 10 a.m. with the women’s shot put and women’s high jump. The track events start at 11:40 a.m. with the men’s mile, leading up to a final push for UNM to get into position to contend for the MW Championships.