Preview: Don Kirby Invitational features can’t-miss slate

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – An invitational men’s 4×400-meter relay set for Friday night highlights a jam-packed schedule of competition this weekend as the New Mexico-hosted Don Kirby Invitational takes the stage at the Albuquerque Convention Center.

UNM Lobo Track & Field Weekend Schedule
Friday, February 10
9 a.m. – Don Kirby Invitational – Albuquerque Convention Center
4:50 p.m. PST/5:50 p.m. MTN – UW Husky Classic – Seattle
Saturday, February 11
9:45 a.m. – Don Kirby Invitational – Albuquerque Convention Center
12:30 p.m. PST/1:30 p.m. MTN – UW Husky Classic – Seattle

The Lobo squad of Jevon O’Bryant, Jovahn Williamson, Rivaldo Leacock, and Brodie Young, which broke the school and Mountain West Conference records in the event last week with a time of 3:06.58 minutes (converted from 3:06.14), enters the week ranked No. 22 on the NCAA performance list and will face off against three of the other top teams in the country. The Lobos will toe the line on Friday night at 6:30 p.m. against third-ranked Alabama (3:03.99), 12th-ranked UCLA (3:05.47), and 13th-ranked Florida State (3:05.82).

At last week’s New Mexico Collegiate Classic, the foursome hinted they were on their way to a record-breaking time when each set a personal best in the 400-meters on Day 1 of the meet. They followed that by breaking their own school record in the relay, and edging the Mountain West record of 3:06.19 minutes set by TCU in 2008 by 0.05 seconds.

O’Bryant, Williamson, Leacock, and Young are also scheduled to participate in the 400-meters on Saturday, along with Ayoub El Ashmawi and Victor Akhalu. Williamson at 46.51 seconds, O’Bryant at 46.52 seconds, Young at 47.03 seconds, and Akhalu at 47.45 seconds hold the top-four spots on the Mountain West Conference performance list this season, while Leacock is seventh at 47.94 seconds and El Ashmawi is 10th at 48.65 seconds.

Before the focus shifts to the high-stakes 4×400-meter relay to close out Friday, reigning Mountain West Athletes of the Week Elizabeth White and Jake Burkey will be in action in an evening long jump session. White broke the school record on her first attempt last week, with a jump of 6.25 meters (20’ 6.25”). That was good enough to lift her to No. 14 on the NCAA performance list, with the top-16 competitors at the end of the season qualifying for the NCAA Championships.

Burkey leapt his way to a lifetime best of 7.75 meters (25’ 5.25”) last week, which vaulted him to the top spot on the Mountain West list and No. 19 in the NCAA overall. Lokesh Sathyanathan is also entered in the long jump this week, and he holds the fourth-best Mountain West mark at 7.37 meters (24’ 2.25”) this season.

More of New Mexico’s elite performers will be competing on the West Coast this weekend, with the distance crew scheduled for the UW Husky Classic in Seattle on Friday and Saturday. Mountain West mile leader Stefanie Parsons hit a personal-best time of 4:35.51 minutes at the New Mexico Team Open, earning Mountain West Athlete of the Week and landing at No. 21 on the NCAA performance list. Reigning Mountain West mile champion Elise Thorner is second on the conference performance list with a season-best of 4:37.27 minutes, and Samree Dishon is third after running a personal-best 4:37.68 minutes at the New Mexico Team Open. That trio will be joined by Klara Dess, Sarah Eckel, and Lauren Bettencourt, the latter of which ran a lifetime best 4:52.83 minutes at the New Mexico Team Open to appear 14th in the Mountain West this season.

Gracelyn Larkin will focus on the 3,000-meters this weekend for the first time this season, and if she can match or improve her lifetime best of 9:08.22 minutes she’d be at the top of the Mountain West list. Parsons, who is second on the Mountain West list at 9:16.20 minutes, and Dishon, who has never run the race collegiately, are also entered on Friday night at 8 p.m. PST/9 p.m. MTN.

After leading the Lobos with a 22nd-place finish at the 2022 NCAA Cross Country Championships last fall, All-American Amelia Mazza-Downie will make her indoor season debut in Seattle and compete in the 5,000-meters. The reigning Mountain West champion in the 5,000-meters, Mazza-Downie holds a lifetime best of 15:37.46 minutes which would put her at the top of the Mountain West and in the top-10 nationally if she can eclipse it.

Coming off a personal-best in the 800-meters last week, Ethan Brouw will go back to the line at sea level this time in the UW meet. He enters the week with the top time in the Mountain West this season at 1:48.07 minutes, which also pits him 20th on the NCAA national list.

Jonathan Carmin, who ranks fifth in the conference in the 5,000-meters at 13:52.94 minutes and seventh in the conference in the mile at 4:05.72 minutes, will compete in the 3,000-meters for the first time this season on Friday. Abdirizak Ibrahim and Matthew Larkin will compete in the mile in Seattle, with those two holding lifetime bests of 3:57.85 minutes and 4:03.45 minutes, respectively. Larkin’s best in the event came two weeks ago at the New Mexico Team Open as an unattached runner, and would put him fifth on the Mountain West list if he’s able to match or improve upon the time this weekend in Washington.

After setting an Israeli national indoor record in the 200-meters last week, Gal Arad will be back in action with the third-fastest time in the Mountain West this season at 21.43 seconds. Arad will compete in the 200-meters alongside Leacock, who ranks eighth in the Mountain West at 21.56 seconds, and El Ashmawi, who ranks 13th in the conference at 21.82 seconds. Arad is also set for the 60-meters, where his season-best time of 6.89 seconds ranks him 10th in the conference.

Mckenna Watson, who has been on the verge of the UNM school record in the 60-meters all season long, will lead the women’s sprint crew back into action this weekend. Watson enters the meet ranking eighth in the Mountain West at 7.57 seconds, which is just 0.02 seconds off the school record of 7.55 seconds held by Kayla Fisher-Taylor (2014). Watson also holds the third-best 200-meter time in the Mountain West this season at 24.02 seconds, which is just 0.06 off Tianna Holmes’s school record of 23.96 which she set last indoor season.

Rebecca Grieve ran the third-fastest 400-meters time in the Mountain West at last week’s meet, as she enters this week with a PR time of 54.83 seconds. This week Grieve will run the 200-meters for the first time in her collegiate career, and if she can top her lifetime best of 24.59 seconds in the event it would put her into the top-10 in the conference. Fellow newcomer Logan Neely is right behind Grieve at sixth on the Mountain West list with a 400-meter time of 55.64 seconds, and will run that event alongside the school record holder Holmes on Saturday afternoon at 1:30 p.m.

Joining Watson in the 60-meters on Saturday morning at 10:10 a.m. will be Maria Cisneros Llamazares, Lilee Kaasch, Alexandra Adams, and Kora Pettengill. Aleksandra Wolczak is coming off a PR in the 200-meters last week at 25.02 seconds, and she is entered in both that race and the 400-meters this weekend. Annamaria Leszczynska, Analisa Ibarra, and Leigh James are all entered in both the 200-meters and 400-meters, while Victoria Plummer will compete in the 400-meters, 60-meter hurdles, and the high jump.

The Lobo women figure to construct a pair of 4×400-meter relay squads to close the meet on Saturday afternoon, with Grieve, Holmes, Leszczynska, Neely, Watson, James, Wolczak, and Ibarra all in the pool to compete. The foursome of Neely, Holmes, Leszczynska, and Grieve broke the school record in the event earlier this season, with a time of 3:39.77 minutes on Jan. 21 at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Invitational.

Aidan Quinn and Darryl Thomas are entered in the triple jump, with the duo checking in at second and sixth, respectively, on the Mountain West performance list. Quinn holds a season-best mark of 15.36 meters (50’ 4.75”), while Thomas checks into this week at 14.16 meters (46’ 5.5”).

UNM’s pole vault unit of Alyssa Gregory, Kailey Ludwig, Abbie Schwieder and Kiara Quezada-Arzate will get back to work on Friday night, while Zennia Gonzalez and Pettengill are entered in the morning session of the women’s long jump. Alyssa Magallanez will join Plummer in the high jump Friday, and Mikyla Harkley and Kaasch are set for the triple jump on Saturday. Gannon Christman is entered in the 60-meter hurdles, where he holds a lifetime best of 8.36 seconds, and Adam Giron will compete in the high jump where his best mark is 2.01 meters (6’ 7”).

Kevin Mulcaire will make his indoor season debut in the mile on Saturday afternoon, as will Semira Mebrahtu Firezghi on the women’s side.

Running unattached for the Lobos this weekend at the Convention Center will be Jonah Vaquera, Gilbert Valdez, Nehemiah Cionelo, Joshua Galindo, Yehonatan Haim, Abdinajib Abade, Danielle Verster, Laini Cota, Camille Jackson, Osaze Williams, and Harrison Smith.