ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Indoor season continues for New Mexico Track & Field on Friday at the Air Force Holiday Opener, the final indoor meet for the Lobos before the semester break.
18 Lobo athletes will represent UNM in Colorado Springs, Colo. at Cadet Field House — 13 women and five men — in the first collegiate competition for UNM’s sprint and jump athletes since the 2023 outdoor season. Six of them will be making their UNM debuts.
UNM’s distance crew got indoor season off to a record-breaking start in Boston last Saturday, with Habtom Samuel and Lukas Kiprop breaking the 5,000m and 3,000m indoor records while putting down times that rank No. 4 and No. 6 on the national indoor qualifying list as of Thursday. Evans Kiplagat, who also finished under the prior 5,000m record to claim the No. 2 spot on the all-time list on Saturday, ranks 15th.
This time around, it’s the Lobos’ sprints and jumps athletes in action. A pair of Pole Vault point-scorers at the MW Indoor Championships — Alyssa Gregory and Kiara Quezada-Arte — as well as fifth-place MW finisher in the Long Jump Mikyla Harkley will all make their season debuts, as will sophomore Adam Giron, who finished seventh in in the High Jump at MW Outdoors in the spring. They’ll be joined by fellow returners Alexandria Adams (60 Meters, 200 Meters), Alyssa Magallanez (High Jump), Lilee Kaasch (Long Jump, Triple Jump), Lauren Fowler (60 Meters, Long Jump), Zennia Gonzalez (200 Meters, Long Jump), Maja Gebauer (Pole Vault), Isabel Thomas (Pole Vault) and Jonah Vaquera (60 Meters, 200 Meters).
Three freshmen on the men’s side — Kyle Hatler (Pole Vault), Jose Cornejo (60 Meters, 200 Meters) and Fabian Biondina (60 Meters, Long Jump) — will also be making their collegiate debuts alongside fellow freshman Ophelia Pulley (60 Meters, 200 Meters) and a pair of transfers in Carlotta Duenninger (60 Meters, 200 Meters, Long Jump) and Julia Kellner (Triple Jump).
Live results for Saturday’s events will be available via GoLobos.com. Follow @UNMLoboTFXC on Instagram and @UNMLoboXCTF on X for live coverage, race content and more.
AIR FORCE HOLIDAY OPENER
Dec. 9 | Colorado Springs, Colo. | Cadet Field House
LAST TIME OUT (Sharon Danville-Colyear Season Opener, Dec. 2)
- At a meet and facility that have become known for producing NCAA qualifying times in the last few seasons, UNM’s distance crew wasted no time in rewriting the indoor records. Both Samuel and Kiprop put record-setting times in the first indoor racing of their careers, with Evans Kiplagat and Samuel Field also entering the program record book in their first indoor meets as Lobos.
- Samuel was the fourth-fastest collegian in a race that saw Harvard’s Graham Blanks break the NCAA indoor 5,000m record. He shattered the UNM record by nearly 18 seconds, putting down the 11th-fastest collegiate 5,000m race in history (13:14.85) in the process.
- Evans Kiplagat also broke the prior 5,000m record with a 13:30.56 finish in the second heat – he’s now in possession of No. 2 on the all-time list behind Samuel.
- Kiprop finished as the sixth-fastest collegian of the Men’s 3,000m while breaking the record, finishing in 7:47.52.
- Also in the 3,000m, Field PR’d for the first time since the 2021-22 indoor season and moved into the No. 10 spot on the UNM all-time list with a 8:06.54 finish.
- Semira Mebrahtu and Klara Dess PR’d in the Women’s 3,000m by 20 and 9 seconds, respectively.
After two more meets in Boston, the Albuquerque Convention Center will also be the host site for the 2024 USATF Indoor Championships on Feb. 16-17 and the Mountain West Championships from Feb. 22-24. All home meet info, including schedules, parking, media coverage and more, will be available via golobos.com/home-track-info.