Young, Sathyanathan sweep MW track weekly awards
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Sweeping the Mountain West Track and Field Men’s Athlete of the Week honors, New Mexico freshmen Brodie Young and Lokesh Sathyanathan claimed all three awards announced by the conference office on Tuesday.
Young was named the Mountain West Track Athlete of the Week, Sathyanathan claimed the Mountain West Field Athlete of the Week, and the two were named the co-Freshmen of the Week. “For those guys to open with such great early season marks shows they will have a great season,” said UNM head coach Joe Franklin after the athletes’ first outdoor meet of the 2023 season. “It is awesome for our team to have talented athletes who are in just their first year.”
Young ran a lifetime best in the 400-meters last Saturday at the Texas Tech Masked Rider Open, clocking a time of 46.20 seconds (converted from 46.09). It was an improvement both on his top indoor time of the 2023 season of 46.65 seconds (46.54) and his personal best outdoor time which had been 46.69 seconds. Young placed third among a field of 47 competitors in the event, and it was the top time by a Mountain West runner so far in the outdoor season. “It is good to see that the success he had during the indoor season has continued,” Franklin said on Young, who was an all-conference performer in the event at the Mountain West Indoor Championships in February. “For him to run a lifetime best at 46.09 and be one of the top freshmen in the United States shows that he will continue to get better.”
Sathyanathan hinted he was on his way to big marks in the long jump by earning all-conference recognition in the event at the Mountain West Indoor Championships last month. He opened his collegiate outdoor career with a leap of 7.38 meters (24’ 2.5”) on Saturday, which was good enough for a third-place finish among a field of 17 competitors. “He didn’t compete a lot during indoors due to injuries, so it was good to see him come out with a big jump over the weekend,” Franklin said. “Starting the outdoor season with a strong mark will be big for his confidence this spring.”
The Lobos won nine MW weekly awards during the 2023 indoor season, including Young who was named the MW Freshman of the Week on Feb. 14. It is his second career weekly honor, and it is the first for Sathyanathan.
New Mexico is scheduled to compete in both the Texas Relays and the Stanford Invitational this weekend, as the outdoor season continues with its second week of action.