Host Lobos vie for league title
Kurgat, Kerr lead home team
The Mountain West indoor track and field championships begin today at Albuquerque Convention Center, giving New Mexico a distinct hometrack advantage.
Maybe this is the year the Lobos will do something with it.
It’s the fourth consecutive year the meet has come to town, but UNM hasn’t won — on the women’s or men’s side — since 2015. Colorado State is the defending champion for both genders. A total of 17 teams (six men, 11 women) will compete in the three-day event.
The weekend also represents the final time Lobo athletes can earn qualifying marks for the NCAA Championships to be held March 9-10 in College Station, Texas.
A vaunted crew of distance runners, led by Bowerman Mid-Season Watch List runner Ednah Kurgat, is expected to pace the Lobo women’s hopes. She has set UNM records in the 5,000 (15 minutes, 19.03 seconds) and 3,000 (8:57.47) and has run the second-fastest mile (4:35.29) in program history.
UNM’s other track superstar, Bowerman Watch Lister Josh Kerr, leads the men. He is the defending NCAA mile champion, and his time (3:54.72) at the Wanamaker Mile on Feb. 3 at the Millrose Games ranks third in the world this year.
In Carlos Salcido, the Lobo men also feature the league’s top runner in the 200 and 400.
The meet begins today with men’s heptathlon and women’s penthathlon events and with finals in the women’s and men’s distance medleys. NEW MEXICO STATE: The Aggie women are in Nampa, Idaho, today to begin the Western Athletic
Conference meet. The Aggies and seven other teams are expected to chase the Grand Canyon women for the title.
Aggies with WAC-best performances include Keyarha Wilson (5 feet, 7¼ inches in the high jump), Hannah Smith (39-5 in the triple jump) and Yemisi Oroyinyin (47-3¾ in the shot put).
ENMU: The Eastern New Mexico men are ranked 22nd heading into the Lone Star Conference championships in Lubbock, Texas, beginning Saturday. Kenneth Lloyd, a senior from Chicago, is the league’s male field athlete of the week after winning the high jump with a school record 6-11½ also in Lubbock.