Lobos Host NM Collegiate Classic; Kelati Runs at Millrose Games
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS | HEAT SHEETS
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— The start of the 2020 indoor season has been good for The University of New Mexico track and field team and the Lobos look to continue the positive results at home this Friday and Saturday at the Albuquerque Convention Center.
The Lobos will compete in the NM Collegiate Classic starting on Friday at 4 p.m. MT with the men’s “B” pole vault. Events on the track will begin at 5 p.m. on Friday. On Saturday, competition begins at 9:30 a.m. with the men’s “A” pole vault and at 10 a.m. on the track with the women’s 60-meter hurdles.
Both days will be streamed on FloTrack and live results will be available HERE.
It will be another weekend with a large number of teams competing, among them Alabama, Kentucky (ranked seventh on the women’s side and 15th for the men), Texas (ranked third on the men’s side and fourth on the women’s side), UCLA (ranked 22nd in the men’s rankings), Texas Tech (ranked 21st in the men’s rankings and 23rd in the women’s rankings), Arizona State, San Diego State and UNLV. The Lobo women are ranked 12th in the latest rankings.
Following Saturday’s results at the UNM Team Open, the Lobos enter the weekend meet with the top five times in the women’s mile in the Mountain West and six of the top results in the conference. Leading the conference currently is Aidan Quinn (triple jump), Tanner Battikha (long jump), Carlos Salcido (400-meters), Jay Griffin IV (200-meters) and Weini Kelati (mile, 5000-meters). Battikha was recently named the Mountain West Men’s Field Athlete of the Week, his first weekly conference honor after his performance at the UNM Team Open.
Elsewhere on the other side of the country, Kelati will be running in the NYRR Millrose Games, the “world’s longest-running and most prestigious indoor track and field competition.” She is scheduled to run in the Mike Frankfurt Invitational Women’s 3,000m Run against some of the top runners in the country, both collegiate and professional, which is scheduled to begin at 2:39 p.m. MT. Results will be available HERE.
In last year’s race, Kelati set the school record by 3.49 seconds with 8:53.98, finishing sixth in the field. This week Kelati was named to The Bowerman Mid-Indoor Watch List as well as the Mountain West Women’s Track Athlete of the Week, the second conference award this season for the junior.
Kelati currently holds the second-fastest time ran in the mile in the NCAA this season at 4:32.66 and in the 5000-meter with 15:14.71. However, she holds the top time in the Mountain West in both events.