The UNM track and field team posted its best performances of the season, winning 10 events Saturday in the Modrall Sperling Lobo Open in front of a home crowd at the UNM Track and Field Stadium.
The women's team snatched four victories and the men's team triumphed in six events during the non-scoring meet. UNM battled against seven regional opponents, including Mountain West Conference rivals the University of Wyoming and Colorado State University.
"This was the best meet we've had since I've been here," UNM head coach Matt Henry said in a press release. "We had some terrific performances today; it was easily our best competition in my two years."
One of many highlights for the Lobos came from junior David Loyd, who won the 400-meter hurdles. But the win did not come without a fight, with Loyd and Wyoming's Seth Billy battling for most of the race.
Loyd, however, kicked into high gear for the last 60-meters to pull away for the victory with a time of 50.84 seconds, which earned him an NCAA provisional qualifying mark. The victory is the Lobos' first national qualifying time of the outdoor season.
Senior Monique Harris also had a stellar performance, capturing first place in the long jump with a leap of 19-feet, 05.50-inches.
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The performance impressed her coach and teammates.
"That was a really, really great jump for her so early in the season, especially under these weather conditions," Henry said.
Senior Kisha Smith agreed.
"She's ahead of schedule jumping that high earlier than she has ever done in the past," Smith said.
Many of the Lobos in the field events followed Harris's example.
Hank Baskett III, who also plays on the football team, cleared six-feet, 9.50-inches with ease to win the high jump event.
Freshman Kelli Meyers cleared a height of five-feet, 8.50-inches to win the women's high jump. Seniors Todd Burns and Zach Bingham tied for first place victory in the pole vault, clearing 15-feet, five-inches, while senior Jammy Kiggundu took home a victory in the triple jump with a leap of 45-feet, 9.25-inches.
Even when the Lobos lost, they still performed well.
In the 100-meter relays, the UNM men's team burst out of the gates, leading for nearly the entire race. But CSU's John Woods made a late push and edged out the Lobos' Chris Garafola at the finish line. The team did, however, record its best time in two years with a time of 40.82 seconds.
"We're doing this for personal records, the team and pride," Garafola said. "We will be competing against these teams a couple of times again in the season and we want to know where we stand now."
UNM continued to assert itself in the distance events as sophomore Ben Ortega won the 5,000-meters distance run with ease at a time of 15 minutes, 06.79 seconds and junior Arline Smith crushed her competition in the 200-meters with a time of 24.31 seconds. Both the men's and women's 400-meter relay teams also won their meets. The tenacious anchor-leg performances by Keren Sari-Bentzur for the women and Daniel Taradash for the men helped hold off late rallies by the Rams. The men won with a time of three minutes, 13.84 seconds, while the women won with a time of three minutes, 53.11 seconds.
UNM hits the road again next weekend to compete in the University of Texas at El Paso Springtime Invitational in El Paso, Texas.
