Lobos Claim 15 Top-10 Finishes at West Coast Relays; Holmes Makes Program History
CLOVIS, Calif. — The University of New Mexico track and field team is no stranger to the West Coast Relays, and that showed as the team claimed 15 top-10 finishes on Friday. Tianna Holmes made both program and meet history in the women’s 200m dash, crossing the finish line in 23.22 seconds. The previous UNM record was set by Barbara Bell (23.44) on April 28, 1984, and So Cal’s Juan Ball set the meet record in 1996 (23.39).
Holmes also finished in first place in the women’s 400m dash at a time of 54.10. Aidan Quinn earned a first-place finish of his own in the men’s triple jump, jumping at a mark of 15.40m (50-6.25).
The Lobos had a dominant outing in the women’s 1500m run and were led by Gracelyn Larkin, who finished in third place at a time of 4:20.80, just 0.11 seconds behind the second-place finisher. Just behind Larkin at a time of 4:20.92 was Elise Thorner in fourth place, and in fifth place overall was Steffi Jones, crossing the line at a time of 4:21.24. Adva Cohen finished in seventh place with a 4:22.35 finish. Rounding out the Lobos in the race was Andrea Modin Engesæth in 17th place (4:26.91) and Semira Mebrahtu Firezghi in 26th place (4:39.77).
In fourth place in the men’s 5000m run was Abdirizak Ibrahim, who crossed the line at a time of 13:42.41.
There was a meet delay due to a lighting issue at Veteran Memorial Stadium, which pushed the men’s 2000m Steeplechase later in the night than initially scheduled, but that did not stop Awet Yohannes from showing out as he claimed fifth place at a time of 8.48.36.
Shannon Fritz and Kiara Quezada-Arzate both finished in the top-10 in the women’s pole vault, finishing in fourth (3.93m, 12-10.75) and eighth (3.63m, 11-10.75) place, respectively. In the women’s high jump, Ada’ora Chigbo finished in sixth place (1.71m, 5-7.25), and Victoria Plummer finished in 10th place (1.61m, 5-3.25).
Montez Wright finished in 10th place in both the 100m and 200m dash, crossing the line at 11.01 in the 100m and 21.85 in the 200m. Matthew Larkin (1:53.03) and Gavin Sleeter (1:53.05) claimed the 10th and 11th spot in the men’s 800m run, finishing just .02 seconds apart.
Darryl Thomas finished in 11th place in the men’s long jump with a mark of 6.20m, 20-4.25). Also in 11th place was Adva Cohen in the women’s 800m run, finishing with a time of 2:09.25. Ali Upshaw came in at 16:53.33 in the women’s 5000m run for a 19th place finish overall.
Also participating in the women’s 200m dash was Alexandria Ruth (19th, 25.13), Tatyanah Wiley (23rd, 25.95), Lauren Chafins (25th, 26.22), and Emily Ho (27th, 29.00). Chafins, Ruth, and Wiley also ran in the women’s 400m dash, finishing in 20th (59.00), 21st 59.44), and 22nd place (1:000.39), respectively.
Emily Ho participated in three events on the day, finishing in 13h place in the women’s long jump (4.87m, 15-11.75), 15h in the women’s javelin (22.53m, 73-11), and 16th in the women’s 100m hurdles (18.52).
Harrison Smith III finished in 19th place in the men’s 1500m run at a time of 3:45.92, and Camillo Dunninger competed in the men’s shot put and the men’s discus, finishing in 15th (12.68m, 41-7.25) and 27th place (36.88m, 121-0), respectively.
A select group of athletes will compete in the USATF Golden Games and Distance Open at Mt. SAC in Walnut, Calif. on May 9 before the team heads back to Veteran Memorial Stadium for the Mountain West Conference Championships tabbed to take place May 13-15.
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