UNM Qualifies for Three Events at NCAA Indoor Championships
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS | ACCEPTED ENTRIES LIST
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— The University of New Mexico track and field team has qualified for three events at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships with a total of four entries.
Weini Kelati, Emily Martin and the distance medley relay (DMR) team will be running on their home track at the national championships to be held at the Albuquerque Convention Center March 13-14 with Kelati entered in the 3,000-meter and 5000-meter and Martin in the 5000-meter.
Kelati enters with the second-best time in the 5000-meter at 15:14.71 and the third-best time in the 3000-meter at 8:54.66, while Martin has the 11th-best time of the entries in the 5000-meters at 15:52.37.
The distance medley relay team qualified as the ninth-fastest team with 11:02.10, which they achieved at the Mountain West Championships to win the conference title. UNM last had a championship entry in the DMR in 2018.
It will be the fourth consecutive year that the Lobos will have an entry in the 5000-meter race and the fourth time in five years that UNM will have an entry in the 3000-meter race.
This will be the first indoor championship appearance for Adva Cohen, Abigail Bendle and Elise Thorner from the DMR team as well as for Martin, and the third straight year for Kelati, who has competed in the 3000-meter and 5000-meter the last two years. In 2018, Kelati finished fifth in both events, but in 2019, the Lobo runner was second in the 5000-meter and third in the 3000-meter.
Kelati currently has seven track All-America honors to her name, four from indoor, to go along with three in cross country for a total of 10 overall, with all but one being first team. With the addition of the events that the junior will run in at the indoor championship meet, she will become the most-decorated All-American in UNM track and field and cross country history, surpassing Alice Wright who was a four-time All-American in cross country, a three-time All-American in indoors and a four-time All-American in outdoors.
Last season, the Lobos scored 23 points, the most points scored not only by a UNM women’s team, but the most points scored by UNM period at the indoor championships. The 23 points were enough for a fifth-place overall finish in the team standings, an improvement of five places and six points from the season prior. In addition, Kelati’s third-place finish in the 3000-meter was the highest a Lobo runner had ever finished in the 3000-meter at the indoor championships on the women’s side or on the men’s side.
Tickets can be purchased for the two-day championship meet at golobos.com/tickets for all session passes or each day.
The 5000-meter race will start off the schedule of events for the Lobos at 7:55 p.m. MT on Friday evening, followed with the DMR to close the night at 8:45 p.m. MT. The 3000-meter final is scheduled for Saturday at 6:25 p.m. MT.