Lobos Notch Season-Opening Marks at Spring Invite
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Gal Arad’s big PR in his return to action, nationally-ranked 1500m finishes and a standout day from the jump and vault squads highlighted New Mexico Track & Field’s return to outdoor action at the UNM Spring Invitational on Saturday at UNM Track & Field Complex, with 11 Lobos opening the outdoor season ranked among the Top 100 in the national NCAA Outdoor Qualifying list after their performances.
2024 MW Indoor 5,000m and 3,000m champion Mercy Kirarei (No. 2), and 2024 5,000m Indoor All-American Evans Kiplagat (No. 7) posted the flashiest performances of the day, leading the men’s and women’s 1500m fields with times that rank among the Top 10 in the West Region as well as nationally to finish ahead of four other Lobos between the men’s and women’s side that put down NCAA Top-100 times after altitude conversions.
Kiplagat and Lobo newcomer Vincent Chirchir made their outdoor debuts to lead the men’s 1500m, crossing the finish line in 3:50.49 and 3:52.36 respectively – they get elevation conversions of 3:45.22 (eighth in NCAA D-I) and 3:47.05 (27th).
Just behind them, Kane Shields put down a 3:47.28 conversion to put himself at No. 31 nationally. The Aussie freshman had only competed twice in the indoor season with a personal mile best of 4:15.37 after redshirting cross country season.
Mercy Kirarei finished with a 4:18.47 elevation-converted time that ranks as the fifth-best in the nation ahead of 2023 XC All-American Nicola Jansen (4:22.61), who opens the season at No. 21 in the nation after redshirting the indoor season.
Sophia McDonnell also got herself into the Top 100 after PR’ing for the fourth consecutive meet dating back to the UNM Team Open (Jan. 26-27) – all four have been different events. She finished with a 4:30.23 converted time that puts her at No. 98 in the nation.
In his first competition since MW Indoor Championships in 2023 – a more than 12-month gap – junior Gal Arad did not disappoint in men’s 100m, notching a new personal best en route to an event win with a 10.54 finish. He followed with another event win and raw PR in the 200m, netting himself a 20.69 time that puts him at No. 17 in the nation and No. 8 in the west in the event.
Freshman Kyle Hatler put up a solid opening mark (4.58m, 15′ 0.25″) as the lone competitor in the men’s pole vault and Maja Gebauer cleared 3.85m to lead two other Lobos (Kiara Quezada-Arzate, 3.65m; Alyssa Gregory, 3.50m) on the women’s side. Gebauer’s mark that would put her among the Top 100 in the event on the TFFRS Outdoor Qualifying list.
2024 eighth-place USATF Indoor finisher Lizzie White also made a long-awaited return to wearing the Lobo uniform for her final collegiate season in the women’s long jump, clearing the day’s best mark (6.03m) to start the season at No. 43 on the NCAA list. After putting up a new PR of 11.85 in the 100m, Lauren Fowler got herself into the nation’s Top 100 with a 5.87m mark to finish second ahead of Zennia Gonzalez (5.77m) and Lilee Kaasch (5.36m).
Competing unattached, Louanne Pouzancre-Hoyer led the women’s 200m with a raw personal best of 23.54 that would rank No. 34 in the nation.
After PR’ing en route to a runner-up finish in the 800m at MW Indoors in February, Klara Dess added another PR in the 400m (58.56), one of three Lobos with new improvements in the event along with Hanna Kiess (57.92) and Gabriella K. Szabo (58.26).
Freshman Jacob Cavanaugh ran a lifetime best 53.67 to lead the men’s 400m hurdles, with Tim Harris (54.39) just behind – their times rank 37th and 53rd in the West.
UP NEXT
The Lobos split up their squad among some prestigious early-season meets this coming weekend (Mar. 29-30) between California and Texas, with the distance crew headed to the Stanford Invite (Palo Alto, Calif.) and sprints and jumps competing at the Texas Relays (Austin, Texas) and Bobcat Invitational (San Marcos, Texas). The action from Stanford will be live streamed via FloTrack, with the Texas Relays being streamed on ESPN+ – follow @UNMLoboXCTF on Instagram and X for live coverage, meet day content and more.