Battikha and Chase Highlight Day Two of MW Championships
COMPILED RESULTS | MEN’S START LIST | WOMEN’S START LIST
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— The agenda for Friday, the second day of the Mountain West Indoor Championships, was for The University of New Mexico track and field teams to score in the field events and advance runners to the finals on Saturday on the track.
At the conclusion of the day, the Lobos were successful, picking up 18 points in the men’s long jump behind first- and second-place results from Tanner Battikha and Ryan Chase, respectively, and advancing 15 runners to Saturday finals, running the fastest times in five events.
Battikha’s winning jump came in the fourth round, jumping 24-11.25 (7.60m) to improve his previous best mark in the competition of 7.33m that he jumped in the third round. Chase’s best mark of the afternoon came on his final attempt of the competition with a personal-best 24-6.50 (7.48m). His second-best jump of the event, a 7.30m in the fourth round would have also secured his second-place standing.
The senior defended his Mountain West Indoor title and improved his performance from a year ago at the championship meet from 24-6.25 to 24-11.25. In all four years, Battikha has made the podium, moving up from third in 2016 and 2018 to first the last two years.
UNM also picked up seven points in the men’s pole vault, with Gabriel Brown placing fourth at 15-9 (4.80m) for five points, which he cleared on his second attempt at the height after clearing his first two bars on the first try. Jason Atencio added two points to the team total after finishing seventh at a height of 14-9 (4.50m), which he cleared on his first attempt of the afternoon
On the track, the Lobos set the table for points on Saturday with three different events having three runners advance to the finals.
In the 60-meter dash, Alejandro Goldston ran the fastest preliminary time at 6.80 (6.82 altitude converted), a personal best for the senior. Lawrence Johnson ran the second-fastest time, tying his personal best of 6.81 (6.83 converted) and Elijah Lilly gave UNM three of the four fastest times in the event with a 6.86 (6.88 converted), finishing third overall to advance.
The women’s mile also produced three finalists with Adva Cohen turning in the fastest time at 4:56.77 (4:50.31 converted), with Lydia Hallam running a 5:01.92 (4:55.35 converted) and Brenda Rosales-Coria a personal-best 4:58.21 (4:51.72 converted), qualifying based on time. The men had one mile runner advance in Iolo Hughes, who finished in 4:16.05 (4:10.48 converted) to advance to the final.
In the men’s 800-meter, Max Wharton clocked the fastest time with 1:53.07 (1:52.44 converted) with Kristian Hansen right behind him with the second-best time of 1:53.20 (1:52.57), and Gavin Sleeter with the third-best time of 1:53.38 (1:52.75 converted), all advancing out of the second heat. In the women’s race, Steffi Jones advanced to the finals through a protest after being tripped up in her heat, ultimately finishing in 2:20.856 (2:20.07).
Rounding out the qualifiers on Friday were two runners each in the 200-meter and the 400-meter on the men’s side, led by Carlos Salcido in the 400 and Jay Griffin IV in the 200.
Griffin ran a 21.17 (21.24 converted) to take the top time in the preliminary round, followed by Goldston, who qualified for his second final with a personal-best 21.36 (21.43), the second-fastest time turned in overall.
Salcido crossed the line in the 400-meter in 47.15 (47.26 converted) for the fastest time and Ben Parmoon advanced with a 48.58 (48.69 converted), the sixth-best time in the event.
With one day remaining and 15 events on the schedule for UNM on Saturday, the men currently sit in fifth in the team standings with 28 points, trailing Utah State by 10.5 points with seven events scored, while the women are in seventh with 10 points and just 12 points out of fourth place, with five events scored.
Competition resumes at the Albuquerque Convention Center at 9:30 a.m. MT with the women’s high jump, in which the Lobos will have Ada’ora Chigbo, Jamari Drake and Shannon Fritz competing, and 11:10 a.m. on the track with the final of the women’s mile.
The final day will be streamed on FloTrack.