“This is a huge jump. I feel really good.”
UNM track and field jumper Jannell Hadnot had that to say in a release after defending her triple jump title at the Cherry & Silver Invitational at the Albuquerque Convention Center on Saturday.
Her victory was just part of a near perfect season debut for the Lobo track and field team: 26 Lobos earned top 10 finishes in the competitive field.
Although the Lobos just got back together as a team to train days ago, their solid performance exceeded even head coach Joe Franklin’s expectations.
“There was a lot of positives for being here for literally four days and then coming out and racing,” head coach Joe Franklin said in a release. “That’s great. It’s much better than I thought it would be.”
Hadnot led the jump team with a leap of 42 feet 9 inches in the women’s triple jump on Saturday, easily surpassing the mark she posted in the same event last year.
“I'm really excited about the season,” Hadnot said. “My jump was pretty good so I'm looking forward to the next few track meets. I'm happy with my performance.”
Katherine Whiting also had a banner day, posting an indoor personal record to place third in the pole vault clearing 13 feet 1 1/2 inches.
Shannon Fritz placed, sixth jumping 5 feet 3 inches in the high jump, while Amaris Blount finished fifth in her flight in the weight throw at 56 feet 11 1/2 inches.
On the men’s side, Ryan Chase recorded a new personal record of 23 feet 10 3/4 inches to place third in the long jump. Two freshmen, Tanner Battikha (fourth, 23 feet 8 1/4 inches) and Alejandro Goldston (sixth, 23 feet 6 1/4 inches), also notched solid marks in their season debuts.
In the pole vault, Daniel Lam moved his personal record up to 16 feet 6 3/4 inches to finish in fourth place.
A trio of Lobos finished eighth, ninth and 10th in the same event. Nathan Burnett also posted a personal record, clearing 16 feet 1/4 inches, and Jason Atencio and John Harari both jumped 15 feet 7 inches.
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The Lobos also logged a solid performance on the track. For the women, Hannah Riker-Urrutia finished in 1:35.37 at third place in the women’s 600-meter run and Larimar Rodriguez ran at fifth at 1:37.05.
The duo also ran in 3:55.94 at fifth place with teammates Abigail Smith and Kyra Mohns in the women’s 1600-meter relay.
For the men, Josh Kerr finished a strong personal record time of 1:51.37 in the 800-meter run to grab runner-up honors. Alexander Palm placed at fifth with a time of 1:52.92. Emil Danielsson ran at ninth place at 1:56.07.
Carlos Salcido added a top-10 finish for the team in the 400-meter run (eighth, 49.22).
In the men’s 600-meter, Mark Haywood (fourth, 1:19.31), Gavin Sleeter (fifth, 1:20.36) and Kristian Uldbjerg Hansen (seventh, 1:20.94) all placed in the top 10.
In the men’s 1600-meter relay, Haywood, Salcido, Cheyne Dorsey and Isaac Gonzales teamed to finish in 3:15.34 to place third.
“This was pretty darn good for a season opener,” Franklin commented on the team performance. “We had some athletes do some really good things, and next weekend when we have almost everybody competing, we’ll have a better idea.”
The sterling performances at the first home meet could be evidence that the team is on the right track to its season goal to get to the Mountain West Championships.
The Lobos will host their second home meet, the New Mexico Team Invitational, at the Albuquerque Convention Center next Saturday.
Bo Yu is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers cross country and volleyball. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Bo_YuB.
