CLOVIS, Calif. – Ajia Hughes (Long Jump) and Pamela Kosgei (Steeplechase) both won individual Mountain West titles to highlight a busy day for New Mexico Track & Field on Day Two at Mountain West Championships Friday at Veterans Memorial Stadium, with 12 other Lobos advancing to Saturday’s finals.
Through two days of competition with eight of 21 events scored for both men and women, the Lobos sit in seventh place in the men’s team score with 19 points and second in the women’s team score with 55.
Team Scores - Men
8 of 21 Events Scored
| Place | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Colorado St. | 91 |
| 2 | Utah State | 54 |
| 3 | Air Force | 42 |
| 4 | Boise State | 41 |
| 5 | Wyoming | 28 |
| 6 | Grand Canyon | 26 |
| 7 | New Mexico | 19 |
| 8 | Fresno State | 6 |
| 9 | San Jose St. | 3 |
Team Scores - Women
8 of 21 Events Scored
| Place | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Colorado St. | 68 |
| 2 | New Mexico | 55 |
| 3 | Boise State | 49 |
| 4 | Nevada | 42 |
| 5 | Air Force | 31 |
| 6 | Utah State | 19 |
| 7 | Grand Canyon | 16 |
| 8 | San Diego St. | 12 |
| 9 | Wyoming | 10 |
| 10 | Fresno State | 8 |
| 11 | UNLV | 2 |
Tomorrow’s final day of competition in Clovis gets underway with the women’s triple jump at 4 p.m. MT. Live results for this weekend's competition at both meets will be available via GoLobos.com/TrackResults, with streaming for all events available via the MW Network at GoLobos.com/Watch and MW Championship Meet Central at themw.com/trackchamp/. Follow @UNMLoboXCTF for meet day updates, behind-the-scenes content and comprehensive coverage of New Mexico Track & Field.
Women’s 100m Hurdles Prelim
3. Adryana Shelby - 13.19 (+3.1 m/s) q
Shelby ran a raw personal best – although not wind-legal – that would rank as the fastest time in program history as she clocked a 13.19 to advance to tomorrow’s finals on a time that ranked third overall among prelims.
Women’s Pole Vault Final
2. Mackenzie Hurtubise - 4.23m*
5. Sofia Kazanova - 4.03m^
9. Jacquelyn Gorman - 3.73m
Hurtubise PR’d twice – clearing 4.13m and then 4.23m – as she posted a massive .15m improvement on her previous program record to finish as MW Runner-Up, with Sofia Kazanova (4.03m) moving up to No. 5 on the UNM outdoor list with a 4.03m PB of her own. Jacquelyn Gorman (3.73m) finished just outside of scoring position as she placed ninth.
Women’s 1,500m Prelim
2. Li-Mari Dekker - 4:23.77 Q
3. Tilly Simpson - 4:25.08 Q
6. Natalie Bitetti - 4:24.47 Q
8. Jasmine Wood - 4:27.63 Q
14. Alice Seguin - 4:28.62
Four Lobo women qualified for Saturday’s final in the 1,500m, with all four earning automatic qualifications with top-two finishes in their heats. Simpson won the opening heat and Dekker won the third, with Wood placing second in the second heat and Bitetti following with a second-place finish in the fourth. Saturday’s final will consist of four Lobos, four Broncos, two Rams and two Falcons.
Men’s 1,500m Prelim
1. Joshua Abraham - 3:46.37Q
2. Collins Kiprotich - 3:49.13Q
Abraham and Kiprotich breezed to the two fastest times of the day in the men’s prelims as both won their heats, with Kiprotich set to defend his 1,500m title tomorrow.
Women’s Long Jump
1. Ajia Hughes - 6.19m (+3.3 m/s) / 20-03.75
3. Mikyla Harkley - 6.06m (+3.1 m/s) / 19-10.75
8. Hannah Vincent - 5.88m (+1.2 m/s) / 19-03.50
All three Lobos advanced to the final and scored points in the long jump, with Ajia Hughes – primarily a high jump specialist – posting a massive PR of 6.19m to win it all and Mikyla Harkley joining her on the podium with a 6.06m leap to finish third. Freshman Hannah Vincent added a new personal best of her own (5.88m) to finish eighth overall and score a point.
6:50 p.m. Women’s 400m Prelim
1. Eva Ngom - 53.07 Q
6. Lou-Anne Pouzancre - 53.86 q
12. Sofia Pineda - 54.85
Eva Ngom and Lou-Anne Pouzancre will both represent UNM in Saturday’s 400m Final after Ngom – the No. 1 ranked 400m athlete in the conference – ran away with her heat and finished in 53.07 and Pouzancre (53.86) advanced on time.
Men’s 400m Prelim
7. Kahari Wilbon - 47.03 q
9. Valin Wittenburg - 47.78 q
Both Wilbon and Wittenburg advanced to Saturday’s finals as two of three athletes to advance on time alone – Wilbon posted an outdoor lifetime best of 47.03 and Wittenburg ran a collegiate best and broke the 48-second mark for the first time as the duo placed seventh and ninth overall.
With nine men in the final, UNM is now guaranteed to get at least point from the men's 400m tomorrow.
Women’s 100m Prelim
1. Taniya Looney - 11.08 Q (+1.2 m/s)
17. Laylah Lawson - 11.80 (+1.2 m/s)
Looney ran her third wind-legal personal best in a row as she improved on her UNM outdoor 100m record yet again, running the fastest time of prelims with an 11.08 – she’s now trounced the competition and set a new school record in both the 100m and 200m in back-to-back days and will enter as the favorite to win both in tomorrow’s finals. Laylah Lawson (11.80) ran the 17th-fastest time of prelims as she finished just four hundredths of a second behind her wind-legal lifetime best.
Women’s 3,000m Steeplechase Final
1. Pamela Kosgei - 9:44.25
In her first steeplechase race of the year, Kosgei repeated as MW champ with another runaway performance, taking off from the get-go and never looking back as she crossed over 25 seconds ahead of the next-fastest finisher – even then, she ran nearly half a minute shy of her lifetime best (9:15.93). She’ll return to contest the 5,000m tomorrow and defend another title.
Men’s 3,000m Steeplechase Final
8. Kipruto Koech - 9:02.51
Koech ran just fractions of a second shy of his lifetime best in the steeplechase as he scored another point for the Lobo men with an eighth-place finish, crossing in 9:02.51