Four more Lobos qualify for NCAAs
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Four more New Mexico Lobos qualified Saturday night for next month’s NCAA outdoor track and field meet, bringing to seven the number of Lobos who will be in Eugene, Ore., competing at the national championships.
At the NCAA West Preliminaries at Hornet Stadium, Lobo men’s 1,500-meter runners Josh Kerr and Ian Crowe-Wright advanced, as did Ednah Kurgat and Weini Kelati from the women’s 5,000. A total of 12 individuals qualified out of the region in each event.
That group will join Lobo teammates Alice Wright (10,000), Charlotte Prouse (3,000 steeplechase) and Carlos Salcido (400), all of whom qualified during the first two days of the three-day meet.
It is the 12th consecutive season that the Lobos have qualified at least four athletes to the national meet.
Kerr, the defending NCAA champion and record holder in the 1,500, took control of the race after two laps and cruised in a winning time of 3 minutes, 42.62 seconds. Crowe-Wright battled back and translated a race-best split on the penultimate lap into a final time of 3:43.32, good for fourth in the heat and seventh overall.
Kurgat, running the first 5,000 heat, moved into the lead position after the opening lap and held onto that position until the final lap with her spot in Eugene all but secured. She finished with a second-place time of 15:25.25, the third-fastest time in program history.
Kelati followed almost the same script, bolting to a large lead in her section and holding on until the final circuit of the track. Her time of 15:28.54 took third place in her heat and sixth overall.
They are the first pair of female teammates in UNM program history to advance to the NCAA Championships in the 5,000.
The one Lobo who competed Saturday and didn’t advance was Brent Dionisio, who finished 43rd in the high jump (6 feet, 7 inches).
■ New Mexico State’s 4x100 women’s relay team finished 23rd of 24 teams at 45.78. The Aggies’ Hannah Smith finished 37th among 47 triple jumpers at 40 feet, 7½ inches.