Thirteen Lobos Named to MW Outdoor All-Conference Team

MW RELEASE
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.— Following the Mountain West Outdoor Track and Field Championships, eight men and five women from The University of New Mexico track and field teams were named to the Outdoor Track and Field All-Conference Individual and Relay teams as announced by the conference on Tuesday. The league honors the top-three finishers in each event from the MW championships.

Of those, six earned the distinction for outdoor for the first time in their career. Nine were in a track event, three were field events and one was for a combined event.

Making the list on the women’s side for the first time was Adva Cohen, who placed third in the 1500-meter with 4:22.88, and Cathilee Mullings, who finished third in the triple jump with a mark of 12.28m.

Weini Kelati, Ednah Kurgat and Charlotte Prouse were all selected for their second outdoor conference honor in the 10,000-meter, 5000-meter and steeplechase, respectively.

Kelati broke the Mountain West Championship meet record with 32:0910 to win the 10,000-meter, marking the second-straight year that a Lobo has won the event. It was the second year that the sophomore has been named for the 10,000-meter after finishing second last year. Kelati broke the meet record by over 20 seconds, the school record by 6.63 seconds and won the race by 2:08.46 while also improving on her last 2018 time by 32.82 seconds.

Prouse also repeated in the steeplechase after winning the event in 9:47.43 to set the Mountain West Championship met record that had previously stood for 18 years. She finished 9.15 seconds ahead of the runner-up. The time also served as a 11.82 second improvement over her time last year in which she finished second. Also of note, Prouse became the first Lobo to win the steeplechase since Ruth Senior won in 2011, joining Senior as the only UNM female runners to win the championship event. 

Kurgat earned her second MW outdoor honor but the first for 5000-meter after winning the 10,000-meter last season to make all-conference. Kurgat ran 15:50.93 to finish second in the event.

For the men, four were first time honorees starting with Camillo Dünninger in the decathlon, who placed third with 7269 points.

Michael Wilson earned his first outdoor all-conference honor after winning the 1500-meter at 3:46.80. It was the fourth consecutive year that a Lobo has won the event and the fifth in six years.

Ryan Chase was named for his third-place result in the long jump with his mark of 23-2.00 (7.06m) on his second attempt, as was Max Wharton, who finished runner-up in the 800-meter after running 1:49.89.

For the second-straight year Tanner Battikha won the long jump to make the all-conference list, this year jumping 24-5.00 (7.44m) to win the title.

Also winning a championship was Jay Griffin IV, who ran the 200-meter dash in 21.25 to win his second outdoor honor, but his first time as an individual after being named as part of a relay team in 2018. Griffin’s win also marked the second year that a Lobo won the event.

In addition, Kristian Hansen earned all-conference for the second time in the 800-meter after placing third at 1:49.99 and it was the second year that Ian Crowe-Wright was named for the 1500-meter, finishing third in 3:47.66.

Up next for UNM is the NCAA West Preliminaries set for May 23-25 in Sacramento, Calif., where the Lobo will vie for a spot in the NCAA Championships to be held June 5-8.