Lobos Conclude Competition at Bryan Clay, Beach Invite
New Mexico closed out a successful weekend at Bryan Clay and the Beach Invitational with nine new personal bests, seven season bests and four new all-time Top 10 marks on Saturday.
Alyssa Gregory cleared a new personal best of 4.02m to lead UNM in the women’s pole vault — a mark that moves her into the No. 3 spot on the UNM outdoor all-time list. She finished third in her section ahead of Maja Gebauer (3.87m, 12′ 8¼”) and Kiara Quezada-Arzate (3.72m, 12′ 2½”), who both came .01m shy of season bests to finish eighth and 10th respectively.
In other field events, Elizabeth White finished fourth in the women’s long jump with a 6.09m (19′ 11¾”) mark — the new No. 9 outdoor all-time mark — and Alyssa Magallanez finished seventh in her flight the women’s high jump (1.64m, 5′ 4½”). Kyle Hatler placed seventh in his flight of the men’s PV, clearing 4.60m (15′ 1″).
Over in Long Beach, Dylan Burrows finished fifth in the men’s 800m with a 1:51.35 time.
Brodie Young got the day started for UNM with an 11th-place finish in the men’s 400m in Azusa, crossing in 47.30. On the women’s side, Rebecca Grieve posted an outdoor best with a 54.99 time to finish 19th – her third-straight improvement this outdoor season, and a time that ranks No. 9 on the UNM women’s 400m all-time list.
Levente Soos (51.98) and Hanna Kiess (1:02.59) both posted personal bests for the second time this weekend in the 400m hurdles, with Soos shaving .24 seconds off his time from Thursday’s competition in Long Beach and Kiess taking .66 seconds off hers to finish ninth and 28th, respectively.
Up next in the men’s 100m, Victor Akhalu (10.58) finished seventh ahead of Jose Cornejo (55th, 10.85) and Elijah Jefferson (65th, 10.90) – Akhalu also led the way in the 200, finishing 30th with a 21.58 time in front of Jefferson (48th, 21.78).
Klara Dess (4:18.25) and Mercy Kirarei (4:23.98) both put down raw PR’s in the invitational section to open up the day’s 1500m racing, with Dess finishing 47th and Kirarei finishing 110th behind Nicola Jansen (108th, 4:18.25) – the trio now rank No. 2-4 in the Mountain West. Sarah Eckel finished 160th with a new season best of 4:31.55.
Habtom Samuel led UNM on the men’s side with a new lifetime best of 3:41.61 and a 31st-place finish, with Samuel Field running a season best 3:44.33 to finish 68th and Matthew Larkin (4:00.32) finishing 142nd. UNM now has the five fastest men’s 1500m times in the Mountain West, and Samuel’s time moves him into the No. 9 spot on the UNM all-time list.
Closing out the night in open 1500m racing, Sophia McDonnell finished 19th with a 4:27.17 time ahead of Hanna Bruckmayer (29th, 4:29.75) — both new personal bests. On the men’s side, Evans Kiplagat led the Lobos with a 34th-place finish (3:47.70), with Luke Cunningham (39th, 3:47.88), Kane Shields (121st, 3:51.60) and Vincent Chirchir (176th, 3:57.20) finishing in succession behind him. Kiplagat and Shields both improved on their season-opening times from the UNM Spring Invitational for new personal bests, with Cunningham running a season best.
UP NEXT / FOLLOW THE ACTION
UNM returns to the Land of Enchantment to host the Don Kirby Tailwind in Albuquerque on April 19. Friday’s action will not be streamed, but live results will be available via GoLobos.com/TrackResults.