Two School Records Broken, Four Lobos Earn Tickets to Championships on Day Three of NCAA Regionals

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The University of New Mexico track & field team ended day three of the NCAA West Regional on Friday with four more Lobos punching their tickets to the NCAA Championships, as well as setting two new school records.

Awet Yohannes opened up competition in the 3000m steeplechase on Thursday’s slate of events. He ended the event with a time of 8:55.47, not quite enough to qualify for the championships. Aidan Quinn then competed in triple jump and ended with a 15.30m mark.

The first Lobo from the men’s squad to punch their ticket to the NCAA Championships was Jovahn Williamson. In the first heat of the 400m dash, he ran a personal best of 45.39s to place third and officially advance to the championships in Eugene, Ore. Jevon O’Bryant ran a personal best 45.67s, just .03 seconds off from punching his ticket to the championships as well.

Matthew Larkin ran in the quarterfinal round of the 800m run, ending with a time of 1:49.55, just two seconds from advancing to the championships.

In the 400m hurdles, Rivaldo Leacock finished with a personal-best time of 49.63s to take second in the first heat of the event and punch his ticket to the national championships. His time set a new school record in the event. His time of 50.04s earlier in the season toppled the record of 44 years in the event.

The men’s 4x400m relay saw a lot of drama in today’s schedule. After protests that led to UCLA and BYU being disqualified on lane violations, the Lobos officially qualified on time to punch their ticket to Eugene. With a time of 3:04.98, the quartet of Victor Akhalu, Leacock, Williamson and O’Bryant placed sixth in the second heat of the event to qualify on their time. This also set a new school record, toppling a record of 45 years (3:05.00, 1977).

Stefanie Parsons and Abbe Goldstein open up Saturday’s schedule of events as they run in the 1500m run quarterfinals at 5:15 p.m. (CT). The trio of Elise Thorner (2nd seed), Adva Cohen (8th) and Samantha Valentine (32nd) are set to compete in the women’s 3000m steeplechase at 5:40 p.m. Tianna Holmes is set to run in the 400m dash quarterfinal round at 6:50 p.m. A handful of Lobos are set to run in the 5K at 8:10 p.m. – Cohen (4th seed), Gracelyn Larkin (5th), Heckel (12th), Samree Dishon (14th) and Mazza-Downie (23rd) to close out regional competition.

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