Burrows, Biondina Get NCAA Qualifying Marks at Desert Heat Classic

TUCSON, ARIZ. – New Mexico Track & Field concluded its final day of regular-season competition at the Arizona Desert Heat Classic at Drachman Stadium on Saturday, highlighted by big PR’s in the 1500m from Nicola Jansen and the 800m from Dylan Burrows.

Burrows moved into the No. 20 spot in the West Region and No. 58 in the nation with a new lifetime best in his specialty distance and Fabian Biondina jumped a UNM best to move himself into NCAA Qualifying at No. 46 in the West Region men’s long jump list for the only two major updates to UNM’s preliminary qualifying hopes until Mountain West Outdoor Championships in May. Burrows now ranks No. 1 in the conference in the 800m and Biondina now ranks second in the long jump.

ON THE TRACK
Earlier on Friday night at the Payton Jordan Invitational over at Stanford, Sophia McDonnell finished 16th in the second section of the women’s 5,000m with a 16:39.82 time – an improvement of 44.46 seconds from her previous UNM 5K best indoors.

Jansen won the women’s 1500m with a 4:22.58 finish, about 1.4 seconds faster than her previous mark set at the Bryan Clay Invitational on April 13. Sarah Eckel led for much of the race but fell back to 12th late (4:36.39).

Samuel Field led the way on the men’s side, crossing in 3:46.83 for second place overall ahead of Kane Shields (8th, 3:50.67)

In the women’s 400m, Rebecca Grieve shaved just under a half-second off her previous season best with a 54.52 finish, good for 12th place overall. That time moves her from eighth to fifth among top conference women’s 400m marks this season.

Meanwhile, Brodie Young got within seven hundredths of a second of his season best with a 46.22 finish in the men’s 400m, finishing eighth overall.

The lone UNM competitor in the women’s 100m, Ophelia Pulley set a new PR in the event with a 12.48 (+0.8 m/s) time a week after a raw personal best with wind (12.25 [2.2]) at the Don Kirby Tailwind Open last Saturday.

Elijah Jefferson won the second heat of the men’s 100m with a 10.66 (+0.2 m/s) time just .04 seconds behind his wind-legal season best set in Long Beach April 11.

Maleah Goldie (10:33.66) and Camille Jackson (11:14.13) finished ninth and 12th in the women’s 3,000m race – Goldie ran 23.8 seconds faster than her indoor best (10:57.26) from February for a new lifetime best and Jackson ran nearly 30 seconds faster than her time from Don Kirby last week (11:43.54) for a new season-best.

Moving on to the 400m hurdles, Hanna Kiess (1:02.27) finished 24th on the women’s side ahead of Analisa Ibarra (1:03.10) in 29th – Ibarra’s time marked an improvement on her personal best for the second consecutive week. Levente Soos (52.37) led the Lobos with a 12th-place finish in the men’s race, with Tim Harris (16th, 53.97) and Jacob Cavanaugh (17th, 54.04) just behind. Soos’ time was faster than his mark from last week in Albuquerque, but still just shy of a new PR.

Lauren Fowler placed 23rd with a 24.14 (+0.9 m/s) time in the women’s 200m and Eljah Jefferson (21.35, +0.6 m/s), Victor Akhalu (21.38, +0.4 m/s) and Jose Cornejo (21.39, +0.5 m/s) finished 20th-22nd in the men’s 200m despite all being in different heats. Cornejo and Jefferson won the second and fourth heats, respectively, with Akhalu finishing second in the fifth.

In the women’s 800m, Klara Dess improved on her previous potential qualifying time with a 2:07.78 finish – more than a second faster than her previous season-best mark and five hundredths of a second faster than her time in the event at MW Indoors. She moves up to No. 4 on the MW Outdoor list and No. 67 in the West Region. Behind her, Gabriella K. Szabo ran her fastest time of the outdoor season (2:10.42) while finishing ninth.

Dylan Burrows ran a lifetime best in the men’s 800m, finishing fourth with a 1:48.40 time that moves him up to No. 20 in the West Region and solidifies his hold on the No. 1 spot in the conference heading into MW Outdoor Championships.

Closing out the night in the 4 x 400m relays, the UNM women (Hanna Kiess, Rebecca Grieve, Lauren Fowler, Analisa Ibarra) finished ninth with a 3:46.56 time, with the men (Victor Akhalu, Brodie Young, Tim Harris, Levente Soos) also finishing ninth with a 3:12.93.

FIELD EVENTS
Fabian Biondina jumped a UNM best 7.53m (24′ 8.5″) in the men’s long jump to place fifth overall, his fourth improvement in as many meets dating back to indoor season in February. That mark moved him into the Top 48 in the West Region for NCAA Qualifying at No. 46.

Carlotta Duenninger threw a 37.39m (122′ 8″) season best in the javelin to finish third in her flight and 13th overall.

In the women’s LJ, Elizabeth White finished sixth with a 6.17m (20′ 3″) mark and Lilee Kaasch finished 18th in the women’s triple jump (11.30m, 37′ 1″).

Kyle Hatler finished 21st with a 4.57m (15′ 0″) mark in the men’s pole vault, while Alyssa Gregory and Maja Gebauer both cleared 3.97m (13’0.25”) but scratched out at 4.07m – a would-be program record. Kiara Quezada-Arzate (3.82m, 12′ 6.25″) finished 16th.

ALL-TIME TOP 10’S
Grieve’s 400m time moves her up to No. 5 on the UNM all-time outdoor list in the event — Dess’ 800m PR etched her name into the record book at No. 10 in UNM outdoor history.

NCAA PRELIM PICTURE
After Saturday’s events, the Lobos have 25 times/marks that rank among the Top 48 in the West Region across 16 men’s and women’s events. Burrows’ time in the 800m moved him up to No. 20 in that event, with Biondina’s long jump getting him into the Top 48 for the first time this season at No. 46.
Participants for the 2024 NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships first rounds are determined by the NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Track and Field and Cross Country Committee. For each individual event contested at both of the NCAA Regional Preliminary Round sites, the Top 48 declared student-athletes and Top 24 relay squads in their respective regions will be accepted into the competition, with the Top 12 in each Prelim advancing to the NCAA Outdoor National Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. June 5-8. 

UP NEXT / FOLLOW THE ACTION
The Lobos now get some time off going into MW Outdoor Championships, set to be held at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Clovis, Calif. May 9-11. The Lobos entered this weekend’s action projected 4th (M) and 5th (W) in the conference TFRI rankings, with last year’s champions Air Force (M) and Colorado State (W) projected to repeat again in 2024.