10 Lobos, 2 Aggies to compete in West Prelim
AUSTIN, Texas — New Mexico track and field coach Joe Franklin says it’s about “survival mode” for the 10 Lobos who are competing at the West Preliminaries of the NCAA Track and Field meet beginning today.
A top-12 finish in each event sends the West competitors to the NCAA Championships next month in Eugene, Ore.
“The expectation this week is to go in and see if we can get four or five people to the national championships and continue adding to the tradition that we have,” Franklin said.
Six Lobos are making a return to the West Prelims, including three reigning Mountain West Conference champs.
For the men, Josh Kerr is the No. 1 seed in the meet in the 1,500-meter run. His seed time of 3 minutes, 35.99 seconds ranks sixth in NCAA history.
He won the 800 and 1,500 at the league meet earlier this month and has 10 wins in his last six meets, including the NCAA title in the indoor mile in March.
Among the women, Alice Wright, the 2016 NCAA runner-up in the 10,000, is entered in her speciality. Her seed time of 32:29.28 doubles as the UNM record.
“Alice is in the best fitness she’s been in in her life, knock on wood,” Franklin said.
Jannell Hadnot, won the triple jump at the West Prelims last season and is entering the final of four West appearances.
In the men’s triple jump, Sam Trigg is also back for a repeat showing. The senior from England owns a personal-record mark of 52-10¾ that has him seeded 11th.
Other Lobos are Graham Thomas in the 3,000-meter men’s steeplechase, and Natasha Bernal for the women. Making debut performances for UNM are Tanner Battikha in the men’s long jump, Emil Danielsson in the men’s 1,500, Indianapolis transfer Kieran Casey in the women’s 1,500 and freshman Sophie Eckel in the 5,000.
Also, New Mexico State’s Crissey Amberg of Albuquerque and Kayli Farmer of Aztec are competing in the women’s 1,500 and women’s javelin, respectively. Amberg’s 4:25.37 is a NMSU record.