The UNM track and field team finishes its indoor season at the Mountain West Conference Championships this weekend at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.
The Lobos are working to improve upon last year’s performances, in which the women’s team finished sixth out of eight teams and the men’s team finished last out of six.
First-year head coach Matt Henry said that the conference meet is what the team has been working toward all season and that it won’t be taking it lightly.
As part of preparation, Henry increased the number of pre-conference meets from one last year to four this year. Although team results were not tabulated at most of the meets, some individual performances may have given UNM reason to hope about this weekend.
On the men’s side, senior sprinters Ian Stewart and Larry Davis have had solid pre-conference performances.
Davis won the 200-meter run at the Flagstaff Invitational two weeks ago and was second at the J.D. Martin Invitational. Stewart repeated Davis’ performance, but in the 400 distance. Stewart also set a new UNM record in the 200 at the Air Force Invitational meet in January.
Freshman Ben Ortega established a strong UNM presence in the distance events by winning the 3,000-meter run in Flagstaff. The men’s 4x400-meter relay team has shown the most consistent improvement, finishing eighth at Air Force, fourth at the J.D. Martin and first in Flagstaff.
Junior Keren Sari, an all-around athlete who competes in the pentathlon, long jump and hurdles, paces the women’s team. Sari has five top-three finishes this year and has broken UNM records in the long jump and pentathlon.
Junior Monique Harris was named Mountain West Conference women’s indoor track and field athlete of the week earlier this season after her second-place finish in the triple jump at the J.D. Martin Invitational. Harris’ distance of 12.35 meters led the conference at the time.
Other contenders include junior Monica Christofferson, who had a third-place finish in the 400 at Flagstaff and the women’s 4x400 relay team, which has two second-place finishes this season.
Last week, the Lobos competed in the Red Raider Classic at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. While much of the UNM team sat out the meet in preparation for the conference championship, some strong individual performances were posted by UNM.
Junior Carolina Geisseler soared over the competition in the women’s pole vault. Geisseler’s height of 10 feet, 6 inches was almost a foot better than her nearest competitor.
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On the track, sophomore Hannah Radzinski finished fourth in the 3,000 with a time of 10:53.02.
