Several Lobos, 26 in total, are currently in Tempe, Ariz. training for a week in preparation for the 2019-20 track and field season. Senior Carlos Salcido will be blogging throughout the week to update on how the training is going.
A senior sprinter from Rock Springs, Wyo., Salcido is majoring in liberal arts and has ran both the 4×100 and 4×400 relays, as well as the 100, 200 and 400 during his time at UNM.
During the 2018 indoor season, Salcido set the school record in the 200-meter dash at the New Mexico Team Invitational with a time of 21.36, and a year later ran the second-best 200-meter dash time in UNM program history with a 21.35-second sprint at the UNM Team Invitational on Jan. 26. The senior also holds the second-fastest time in the 400-meter with 46.71, which he set at the New Mexico Classic on Feb. 3, 2018. Salcido ran on two relay teams that hold the top-2 spots in the 4×400 relay in program history, running 3:10.78 (Feb. 25, 2017) and 3:12.10 (Feb. 11, 2017).
Salcido also holds several UNM top-10 records in outdoor as well, with the second-best time in the 200-meter at 20.87 (May 5, 2018) and the third-best time in the 400-meter with 45.99 (May 24, 2018). In addition, he was a member of the 4×100 relay team that set the school record on May 1, 2016 with a time of 40.20.
He earned All-Mountain West Indoor honors in the 4×400 in 2017 and All-Mountain West Outdoor Team honors in 2016 in both the 4×100 and the 4×400.
Tuesday, Jan. 7
When I heard about the Phoenix training trip for the first time, I was pumped and happy. I was excited that the trip was an opportunity to get out of the cold. Training in Wyoming during break is impossible and even in New Mexico the weather is bad enough to limit us from achieving the maximum level of training that we can attain. The warmer weather in Arizona will give us an opportunity to focus on track and nothing else but track. Some teams get to practice in great weather year-round, and this Arizona trip is a chance to level the playing field going into the season.
This is a big season for me as it is my last season of eligibility in the NCAA. After missing out on the 2019 season due to a quad injury, my focus has never been at a higher level. My teammates and I have set goals for each other and are doing a great job of holding each other accountable. With the help of my training partners, I know that we are in for a special season. I know the Arizona trip will help us be ready on Jan. 24th.
Thank you for joining us in this journey; we hope we can give you a glimpse of the effort, time, and passion that it takes to compete at such a high level. I hope you follow us throughout the entirety of the indoor and outdoor seasons.
This team is built on hard working, talented athletes. My mission is to give you a deeper look into our lives and how we differ on and off the track. Our journey begins Jan. 24, hope to see you there.
Thursday, Jan. 9
A lot of stuff has happened since the last blog entry I wrote. NCAA rankings came out, we went to the Phoenix Suns game and we had a killer workout today. Track is fun but man is it hard. Nothing comes easy especially at this level. The team has looked great after three days of practice at the beautiful ASU track facilities. Running is just easier when you can look up and see 25-foot palm trees around the area.
The NCAA men’s team rankings had us ranked way lower as a team then I believe we are. It works to motivate us. There are a lot of people on the team that can help us rise toward the top. As long as we work hard and believe in each other we can prove the preseason ranking wrong.
We went together as a team to a Phoenix Suns basketball game and it was a greet experience, especially because it was a lot of my teammates first NBA game. It was especially cool to me because I am a huge NBA fan. I watch games every single night. My favorite team is the Denver Nuggets; they’ve been my squad forever. They’re the underdogs, they play unselfish ball, they’re just like me. And of course, Nikola Jokic is a monster. If you don’t know who that is, please do yourself a favor and google him- he is the definition of an underdog. Somebody that nobody believed in competing against some of the greatest athletes on the planet.
Man was our workout hard today. I always say you could always work harder if you don’t puke during practice, and boy did Jay Griffin and I puke today. Jay has been an amazing teammate and friend. He is a two-sport athlete playing wide receiver on the football team and runs track in the Spring. Jay is a special athlete; I’ve never trained and competed against someone as unique as him. In 2018, I won the Mountain West title in the 200-meter dash and in 2019 Jay kept the 200 championship in New Mexico as he became the new champion. One of the big group goals is to bring the 200-meter championship back to Albuquerque. I am primary focusing in the 400-meter dash, but I believe that Jay vs. Alejandro Goldston will be an event that everyone will want to see. Ale is another athlete in our training group. He won athlete of the meet at 2018 Mountain West Championships, scoring in the Long Jump, 100, 200, and 4×100. He is by far the hardest working person I have ever been around, and I am really excited to see what he can do this upcoming season.
It is always funny to me after a hard workout seeing how everyone’s body reacts. There are always people laying on the ground unable to operate and, honestly, it would be funny, but most of the time I’m the person on the ground. It got so bad that today I had to help one of my teammates put on their sock because they just couldn’t. The work we put in comes with a lot of pain but if there wasn’t any pain in the sport the joy wouldn’t feel as great.
Thank you for keeping up with the blog post. I am excited to keep this thing going and show you all how great of a program we are part of, and like always, Go Lobos.
Thursday, Jan. 16
We are finally back home after a great week of training and sunshine. It was such a great experience to get to do something like this. We were able to bond as a team and also spend some time on the track getting better. A lot of my teammates were kind of surprised about how pretty Arizona happened to be. Palm trees everywhere as well as huge cactus; it was very unique.
Some of the fun things that we did to bond on the trip was go to the zoo and Topgolf. The zoo was really fun just because there were a lot of different animals to see. My favorite that we saw had to have been the orangutans. I like how they move and also because I find them every cute. Going golfing was a ton of fun as well as some of us had never been before. I went with Ryan Chase, Cedric Patterson, Aidan Quinn, and Tanner Battikha.
Now that we are back home it gives us a chance to reflect on the upcoming semester and the season that is set to begin on the 24th. The Phoenix trip was great and maybe helped us change our goals a little bit as we realized that we are a good team that can do great things with each other’s support. Thank you and I hope to see you at the Albuquerque Convention Center Jan. 24th and 25th. Go Lobos!