Gebauer Wins PV Title on Day Two at MW Outdoor Championships
CLOVIS, Calif. – Maja Gebauer won the women’s pole vault title to lead four podium finishers for New Mexico Track & Field on Day Two at Mountain West Outdoor Championships at Veterans Memorial Stadium on Friday.
Heading into the final day of competition tomorrow, UNM sits in third on the women’s side with 41 points and seventh on the men’s side with 11 points. The Lobos advanced seven runners to tomorrow’s finals out of Friday’s prelim competition in the 1500m, 400m and 100m.
In the first event of the day, Fabian Biondina scored three points for the Lobo men with a sixth-place finish in the men’s long jump, clearing 7.26m in a field in which his collegiate best from his last competition (7.53m) would’ve secured him a podium finish.
Maja Gebauer won a Mountain West title and Alyssa Gregory finished third in the women’s pole vault to score 16 crucial points for the women. Both cleared 3.98m on their final tries, with Gebauer – UNM’s outdoor program record holder – winning on attempts. Both missed the podium at MW Indoor Championships earlier in the year.
The Lobos saw three runners advance out of the men’s 1500m prelims to tomorrow’s finals, with Habtom Samuel running the second-fastest time of the day (3:47.86) to win his heat and qualify ahead of Samuel Field (3:48.55) and Kane Shields (3:48.64), who finished in succession behind him with the fourth- and sixth-fastest times of the preliminary round. They’ll compete again tomorrow in the finals at 7:05 p.m. MT.
Rebecca Grieve also advanced to finals in the 400m with the seventh-fastest time of the day (54.77), with Brodie Young winning his heat with the second-fastest time of the day (46.66) on the men’s side. They’ll both be back for the finals that get started at 7:05 p.m. MT tomorrow.
Lauren Fowler (11.54) and Victor Akhalu (10.47) both raced to comfortable heat wins in the 100m to also punch their tickets to the finals. Akhalu will be competing in both the 100m and 200m finals tomorrow at 8:05 p.m. and 9:05 p.m. respectively, with Fowler at 7:55 p.m.
Fowler’s time stands as a new PR that moves her into No. 3 on the UNM all-time list.
Sophia McDonnell closed things out with eight more points and a runner-up finish in the 3,000m steeplechase thanks to a more than 10-second PR. Already a surefire qualifier, McDonnell crossed in 10:03.68, a time that would rank Top 10 in the West Region on the current NCAA list and moves her into No. 6 in the event all-time.
In the women’s long jump, Elizabeth White took the lead with a massive 6.44m jump on her final attempt – her longest of the season – but San Jose State’s Emilia Sjostrand followed with a 6.50m jump to bump White down to second place (8 points). Regardless, White’s mark should put her comfortably in the West Region’s Top 25 ahead of NCAA Prelims and moves her up to the No. 2 spot on the UNM all-time list in the event.
UP NEXT
Tomorrow’s final day of competition gets started with the women’s triple jump at 4 p.m. MT and will see finals competition across 18 events before concluding with men’s and women’s 4x400m relays. All of this weekend’s action will be broadcast via the MW Network, with live results and streaming for each day available at GoLobos.com/MWOTF. Follow @UNMLoboXCTF on Instagram and X for live coverage, meet day content and more.