Lobo Women in Third, Men in Fifth After Day Two at MW Indoor Championships
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – New Mexico Track & Field wrapped up its second day of competition at Mountain West Indoor Championships at the Albuquerque Convention Center on Friday, with the Lobo women entering the final day in third place with 33.5 points and the men sitting in fifth with 19 points.
Saturday’s final day of competition promises plenty of point-scoring opportunities for the Lobos –after today’s results, they have two women (Sarah Eckel, Hanna Bruckmayer) and two men (Samuel Field, Luke Cunningham) in the mile finals, two women (Klara Dess, Gabriella K. Szabo) and three men (Matthew Larkin, Dylan Burrows, Osaze Demund) in the 800m finals, with Brodie Young qualifying for both the 400m and 200m finals and Lou-Anne Pouzancre Hoyer qualifying in the 400m. First-night 5,000m champions Habtom Samuel and Mercy Kirarei will both return for the 3,000m races in which they are ranked No. 1 in the conference and enter as heavy favorites, and UNM’s men’s and women’s 4x400m relay teams both rank Top-8 in the conference (Men No. 2, Women No. 8).
Other athletes yet to compete are Adam Giron Jr. (No. 8) making his third appearance at MW Championships, Fabian Biondina (MW No. 6) in the men’s triple jump trials, Kyle Hatler (No. 5) in the men’s pole vault and Julia Kellner (No. 7) and Mikyla Harkley (No. 8) in the triple jump.
TEAM SCORE
| MEN | WOMEN |
| 1. Air Force – 60 points | 1. Colorado St. – 77 points |
| 2. Colorado St. – 39 points | 2. Fresno St. 46 points |
| 3. Wyoming – 35 points | 3. New Mexico – 33.5 points |
| 4. Utah State – 22 points | 4. San Jose St. – 29 points |
| 5. New Mexico – 19 points | 5. San Diego St. – 28 points |
| 6. San Jose St. – 11 points | 6. Air Force – 18.5 points |
| 7. Boise St. – 6 points | 7. UNLV – 11 points |
First up for the Lobos, Hanna Bruckmayer (4:53.01) and Sarah Eckel (4:55.77) both qualified for tomorrow’s final in the women’s mile prelims, with Bruckmayer finishing second in her heat with the third-fastest overall prelims time and Eckel finishing fourth in her heat for seventh.
Samuel Field – who posted back-to-back sub-four minute Mile PR’s in his last two meets at sea level – won his heat and was the second-fastest finisher in the men’s mile prelims to punch his ticket to the final with a 4:11.45 time. Up next, Luke Cunningham also qualified with a 4:12.23 time, the eighth-fastest time of the day.
Lou-Anne Pouzancre Hoyer was the fastest finisher in the women’s 400m prelims to become the fifth Lobo to secure themselves a spot in the finals, finishing in 53.81 — she’ll race in the second heat of tomorrow’s final against MW leader Shaqueena Foote (San Diego St.). Pouzancre Hoyer also won the fifth heat of the women’s 200m dash but was .04 seconds out of the top eight.
In the same event, Lauren Fowler (24.59) placed second in her heat, finishing 21st overall – Fowler also finished eighth overall in the women’s long jump to score a point for the Lobos with a 5.98m (19′ 7½”). Mikyla Harkley 5.80m (19′ 0½”) placed 13th in the long jump, with Zennia Gonzalez jumping 5.77m (18′ 11¼”) to finish 15th.
UNM’s lone men’s competitor in the long jump, Fabian Biondina finished just one spot out of scoring a point for the Lobos with a 6.90m (22′ 7¾”) mark.
On the men’s side, Brodie Young won his heat and put down a 47.97 time in the 400m to move on to the finals. Behind him, Levente Soos (48.58) and Tim Harris (48.82) finished 13th and 14th, respectively. Young finished third in the 400m and eighth in the 200m at MW Indoor Championships last season as a freshman.
Young repeated the feat in the 200m, finishing in 21.39 for second place in his heat and eighth overall. Victor Akhalu (21.48) was the next runner out, with Elijah Jefferson (21.85) finishing 12th.
Gabriella K. Szabo (2:09.46) and Klara Dess (2:10.63) both secured themselves spots in tomorrow’s 800m finals, with Dess winning the third heat to qualify and Szabo getting in based on her time – the third-fastest among today’s competitors.
Three more Lobos qualified in the men’s 800m, with Matthew Larkin (1:51.44), Dylan Burrows (1:51.64) and Osaze Demund (1:52.26) finishing second, third and fifth in heat two. Larkin — the 2023 MW Indoor 800m champion — put down a season-best time in the process while beating MW No. 2 Burrows for the first time this year. Demund and Larkin entered this weekend ranked No. 7 and No. 8 in the conference.
Kiara Quezada-Arzate (3.96m/12′ 11¾”) and Maja Gebauer (3.83m/12′ 6¾”) finished third and fifth in the women’s pole vault to bring in 9.5 points – the first time that UNM has had multiple point scorers in the event in back-to-back years.
Alyssa Magallanez closed out the night with three more points for the Lobos in the women’s long jump, placing sixth with a season-best 1.68m (5′ 6″) mark to secure her best-ever finish at MW Indoor Championships and score three points for the Lobo women.
UP NEXT
The final day of competition at MW Indoor Championships begins tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. with Adam Giron representing the Lobos in the men’s high jump.
Real-time scoring and results, along with post-race interviews and recaps from the 2024 MW Indoor Track & Field Championships, which runs through Saturday, Feb. 24, will be available on the Championship Central page. Head to GoLobos.com/TrackResults for easy access.
The Mountain West Network will provide live coverage of the 2024 MW Indoor Track & Field Championships. Fans can watch the indoor track & field championships on their phones or connected TVs via the Mountain West app. Watch every moment of the MW Indoor Track & Field Championships live on your own TV through Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV or Roku. Mobile applications are available through the iOS App Store and Google Play. Visit TheMW.com/app for more information.
For more information regarding the Mountain West Indoor Track & Field Championships, including live results, visit TheMW.com or follow the Mountain West on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
