Lobo T&F Hosts UNM Collegiate Classic This Weekend

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – New Mexico Track & Field hosts the UNM Collegiate Classic this weekend (Feb. 2-3), with the Lobos set to welcome 66 teams to the state-of-the-art facilities at the Albuquerque Convention Center.

This weekend’s events – as well as all of UNM’s collegiate home meets this season – will be exclusively live streamed via FloTrack, with live results available via the schedule tab at GoLobos.com. Heat sheets will be posted to the Home Meet Information tab on the UNM Track & Field page as well as on the 2023-24 Track Schedule.

The Lobo Classic — exclusively for open/community competition – will also take place at the ABQ Convention Center on Saturday. Meet information for open competitors and spectator tickets are available here.

New Mexico Collegiate Classic
Feb. 2-3| Albuquerque, N.M. | Albuquerque Convention Center

A PREMIER SURFACE
The current surface – the same WSTY Mondo used at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo – at the ABCC was unveiled in March 2021 and cost $3 million in total, with renovations that helped solidify the city’s ability to attract and keep hosting national meets that bring the best competition to Albuquerque. Since 2005, 102 indoor track meets have been hosted at the ABCC — 16 being national championship events at either the collegiate or national level — and indoor track has generated over $30 million in revenue for the city of Albuquerque in that span.

SO FAR THIS SEASON
In the USTFCCCA’s initial TFRI team ranking, the UNM men clocked in at No. 12 in the nation — their highest team ranking in history. UNM athletes ranked in the Top 15 in the nation in six different events in the USTFCCCA’s first #EventSquad rankings released last week: the men’s mile (No. 11), men’s 3,000m (No. 4), women’s 3,000m (No. 11), women’s long jump (No. 14), women’s triple jump (No. 12) and women’s pole vault (No. 13).

Through five meets so far this indoor season – two before the break – UNM athletes have produced 19 marks that rank among the top 10 in program history in their respective  events, including 10 last weekend.

Habtom Samuel was named MW Freshman & Athlete of the Week for back-to-back weeks after putting down the second-fastest mile time in the nation (3:53.92 with elevation conversions) at the MLK Jr. Invitational last Saturday — the fastest collegiate performance in ABQ Convention Center history and his third UNM program record. He previously broke the school record in the 3,000m at the UW Indoor Preview on Saturday with a 7:45.61 time that ranks No. 6 in the nation. Samuel also holds the school indoor record in the 5,000m after posting a 13:14.85 time in his debut at the Sharon Danville-Colyear Opener in Boston on Dec. 2 – that time ranks fourth in the nation.

After running the fastest 3,000m time in the Mountain West in her debut race last weekend at the UNM Team open, Mercy Kirarei became the Lobos’ first female Freshman / Athlete of the Week this season. Kirarei, a native of Eldoret, Kenya who joined the Lobos at the semester, ran the 17th-best in the nation on Friday, winning the event with a 9:17.32 time that converts to a 9:03.60 for NCAA qualifying purposes. That performance — mere weeks after Kirarei got on campus — ranks No. 5 on the UNM all-time indoor list.

LAST TIME OUT
UNM athletes produced 21 new PR’s and 11 new Top-10 marks while racking up 31 Top-10 finishes in their respective events at the UNM Team Open last weekend:

• Pouzancre Hoyer picked up UNM’s first PR of the meet – and her second in the last two meets – in the unseeded women’s 200m, finishing with a 24.29 modified time that moved her into No. 5 in program history.
• In the women’s “B” pole vault, Kiara Quezada-Arzate cleared a personal best 4.00m (13′ 1½”) – good for No. 8 on the UNM all-time list – en route to a first-place finish. This is the first time since 2014 that two UNM women’s vaulters have joined the 4.00m club in the same season.
• In the women’s long jump, Mikyla Harkley (5.99m, 19′ 8″) and Zennia Gonzalez (5.95m, 19′ 6¼”) both recorded new personal bests that moved them up to No. 6 and No. 10 on the program all-time indoor list while finishing fifth and sixth, respectively.
• Evans Kiplagat dominated the men’s 3,000m field in his first collegiate race at elevation, winning the event with an 8:06.50 time that gives him a 7:54.52 converted PR that would rank No. 13 on the current indoor qualifying list and No. 8 on the UNM all-time list.
• Fellow Kenyan national Mercy Kirarei followed up with a similarly dominant performance in the women’s 3,000m, winning with a 9:17.32 time that converts to a 9:03.59. Kirarei’s performance – mere weeks after getting on campus after joining the Lobos at the semester – etched her name into the UNM all-time list at No. 5.
• In the final competition of Day One for UNM, Brodie Young ran the third-fastest race in program history (1:18.92) while finishing fourth overall in the men’s 600m.
• Jacob Cavanaugh finished fifth in the second heat of the 60m hurdles with an 8.48 time that moved the true freshman into the No. 8 spot on the event’s all-time list.
• Lou-Anne Pouzancre Hoyer followed up her big PR in the 200m on Friday night with another improvement in the women’s invitational 400m, finishing with a converted 54.23 that earned her the No. 4 spot on the UNM all-time list and would rank No. 30 on the indoor qualifying list.
• Dylan Burrows finished second overall in the men’s 800m, crossing the finish line with a 1:49.70 time that converts to a 1:49.09 – that time moved him into the No. 7 spot on the all-time list and would put him at 16th on the indoor list.

UPCOMING SLATE
Saturday is the third of four consecutive weekends with meets at the Albuquerque Convention Center, NCAA Indoor Championships last season. UNM’s final home meet at the ABQ Convention Center will be next week at the Don Kirby Invitational on Feb. 9-10.

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.
The Lobos have been the host of the MW Indoor Championship in each season that it has been held since 2014. USATF Indoor Championships will be held in Albuquerque for the third consecutive year.

The top 16 competitors in the nation in individual events and the top 12 in relays will earn berths to the NCAA Indoor Championship Meet, set to take place in Boston at The TRACK at New Balance from March 8-9. Opened last year, the state-of-the-art facility touts a 200-meter hydraulically banked track, a 24,000 square-foot warmup area with a capacity for 5,000 attendees.