The UNM track and field program achieved the goal set by its coaches — to improve — at the Mountain West Conference Indoor Championships, held Thursday through Sunday at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.
First-year head coach Matt Henry and his staff have been on the job less than a year, having taken over the program in May. He and his staff began working with many of the athletes in January, and even with a short amount of preparation time, both the men’s and women’s teams improved last year’s conference performances.
The UNM women’s team finished fourth out of eight teams, jumping two places ahead of last year’s sixth-place finish, with juniors Monique Harris and Keren Sari leading the way.
Harris, the defending conference champion in the triple jump, soared past her competition with a leap of 40 feet, 3/4 inch. Harris is UNM’s first repeat champion since Lavern Clarke won the outdoor triple jump in 1990 and 1991. Harris was fourth in the long jump with a season-best 18-8 1/2.
Sari competed in the pentathlon, triple jump and long jump, finishing fourth in the triple jump at 38-2, second in the long jump with a 19-5 1/2 mark, and second in the pentathlon.
Sari broke the UNM pentathlon record for the second time this season. Her 3,694 points eclipsed the 3,671 points she scored at the Air Force Invitational.
Three other Lobo women had season-best times in their events.
Sophomore Arline Smith was fourth in the 200-meter run, finishing in 24.54 seconds, senior Lisa Coleman placed fifth in the 60-meter hurdles at 8.79 seconds and sophomore Dayna McMillen was seventh in the 60-meter run with a time of 7.70 seconds.
Also scoring for the UNM women were juniors Monica Cristofferson, who was eighth in the 400, and Kisha Smith, who finished eighth in the triple jump.
The women’s mile relay team finished in third place and the distance medley team was seventh.
The UNM men’s team finished fifth out of six teams, one place better than last year’s finish, and senior Larry Davis and freshman Ben Ortega led the way.
Davis broke the UNM record in the 200-meter run twice at the meet and finished fifth overall. Davis’ time of 21.57 seconds in the preliminaries broke the record of 21.63 set by teammate Ian Stewart earlier this season. He topped that in the final with a run of 21.44.
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Ortega finished fourth in the 5,000 Friday with a time of 15:32.81 and followed it with a third-place finish in the 3,000 at 8:46.89.
Freshman Mark Johnson, competing in only his second meet of the season, finished sixth in the triple jump with a season-best distance of 46-2 1/2.
Sophomore Nick Lott and senior Ian Stewart finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 400.
Closing out the men’s scoring was the distance medley team, which finished fifth with a time of 10:52.61.
Even though Brigham Young University swept the men’s and women’s team titles for the second year in a row, Henry said he was pleased with the Lobos’ effort.
“A lot of our athletes performed better than we expected them to,” said Henry. “One of our goals was to get people up to the line competing this year,” Henry said.
UNM will begin its outdoor track and field season March 16-17 at the Willie Williams Classic in Tucson, Ariz. The Lobos will compete in eight outdoor meets leading up to the Mountain West outdoor championships in San Diego, Calif., May 16-19.
