It may have been a rare rainy day in Albuquerque on Tuesday, but it was just a normal training morning for the Lobo Track and Field team as it prepared for the first outdoor meet coming up this weekend.
Raindrops didn’t dampen the mood of the squad, but rather seemed to bring out encouragement for them to pass on their solid indoor performances to the outdoor season.
“It could be raining in Utah, where the conference championship is,” head coach Franklin said in an interview. “We've got to (be) used to running in less than ideal conditions.”
No doubt the Lobos will have their aim directed at winning as the season moves toward the Mountain West Outdoor Conference Championships on May 10 in Utah.
New Mexico had set that same goal for its recent indoor season and Josh Kerr delivered as he won the men’s one-mile run to become the latest Lobo to pick up an individual NCAA title.
Kerr will join several other national qualifiers as the UNM outdoor track and field season seems to have a promising outlook.
The indoor national champion should be full of confidence as he and the rest of the squad gets set to take on some fierce competition on the outdoor track.
Kerr took 10th in the 1500-meter run at NCAA Outdoor Championships last year and will likely be able to rely on his experience competed at the top level to continue to improve.
Alice Wright will probably provide the same on the women’s side. The distance runner struggled with some soreness before in her first national indoor bid earlier in the month, but still proved her consistency at the elite level, placing ninth in women’s 5000-meter run.
Wright captured runner-up honors in the 10,000-meter race last year at the NCAA Outdoors, and was named an All-American in the event in 2015 as well.
In the field events, jumper Jannell Hadnot could be primed for another big season. She placed 17th at the National Outdoor championships last year and also ranked 14th in the women’s triple jump at nationals in the recently completed indoor season.
Along with those three elites, most of the team would stay home to host Don Kirby Tailwind Invitational on Saturday, while a pair of Lobos are expected to travel to California to participate in the Stanford Invitational.
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Franklin indicated that the first big competition for New Mexico would be in two and a half weeks at Azusa Pacific University when athletes really begin to compete in their primary events at the Bryan Clay Invitational.
“Just put on the spikes, put on the uniforms and get back into it again after the indoor season,” Franklin said about his expectations at the season opener. “It’s early in the year, so we are building.”
With the remaining meets all occurring on the road, UNM will likely want to take advantage of the upcoming home meet to judge where athletes are in their training and see what they need to improve on to be ready for the outdoor season.
Franklin also said that there haven’t been any major changes in the training and the team continues to do some base work.
The Lobos accomplished 10 first-place finishes and 68 top-10 performances at the Don Kirby Tailwind Invitational last year.
The one-day event is scheduled to take place at 10 a.m. on Saturday at the Great Friends of UNM Track & Field Stadium.
Bo Yu is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers beach volleyball, track and field, cross country and volleyball. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Bo_YuB.A14422285027
