Kelati Included on Latest Bowerman Watch List
THE BOWERMAN RELEASE
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— The latest watch list for The Bowerman was released on Wednesday and New Mexico junior Weini Kelati was among the 10 nominees.
Of the latest list, six of the women were on the preseason watch list, including Kelati, and all but one compete in track events. Four of the women compete in distance.
Historically, Kelati is the fifth Lobo to be named to a Bowerman list at any point, with Courtney Frerichs being a semifinalist in 2016 and Josh Kerr a semifinalist in 2017 and 2018. Kurgat was not a semifinalist but was named on several watch lists throughout the season last year, including the preseason watch list as well as the mid-indoor watch list in 2018.
Kelati entered the 2019-20 track season coming off of a stellar 2018-19 track season in which she earned four All-American honors, highlighted by a runner-up finish at the NCAA indoor championship in the 5000-meter, a third-place result at the NCAA indoor championship in the 3000-meter and winning the NCAA outdoor 10,000-meter national championship.
The 2019-20 season is already off to another promising start for the Lobo, which comes after winning the 2019 NCAA Cross Country Championship. Kelati opened up the indoor track season at the Boston University Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener, setting the UNM women’s indoor 5000-meter record as well as the Mountain West record with her time of 15:14.71. Furthermore, her time places her fourth all-time in NCAA history, improving her standing from fifth on the chart at 15:15.24 that she ran in 2018 at the BU meet, an improvement of 0.53 seconds.
This past weekend, Kelati recorded the second-fastest time in the NCAA this season in the mile after running 4:38.73, 4:32.66 converted for altitude, to pick up the event win at the UNM Team Open. Her time was also the second-fastest recorded by a UNM runner in program history, second only to Kelati’s 4:31.70 that she clocked at the MW Championships in 2019.
Following each of her races this season, Kelati was named the Mountain West Women’s Track Athlete of the Week, bringing her career indoor total to four and her overall total to five.
In her career, Kelati owns three indoor school records, including the mile (4:31.70), the 3000-meter (8:53.98) and the aforementioned 5000-meter, and an outdoor school record in the 10,000-meter (32:09.10).
This weekend, Kelati will run 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.