Staff Report
The surging UNM track and field team saw two members post NCAA provisional qualifying times and others turn in strong performances at two California meets during the weekend.
A season-best long jump mark of 20-feet, 2.25-inches propelled UNM junior Keren Sari-Bentzur to an NCAA provisional qualifying score of 5,371 on Friday, the final day of the heptathlon competition at the Mt. San Antonio College Relays. Sari-Bentzur finished the multi-event competition in fifth place overall and second among collegiate competitors.
After a stellar performance Thursday when she tallied 3,228 points, Sari-Bentzur needed to average just 650 points in the long jump, javelin, and 800-meter run Friday to tally her first NCAA qualifying score. Picking right up where she left off, Sari-Bentzur opened the day with a score of 896 points on the strength of her season-best long jump performance.
The two-time Israeli national long jump champion had been struggling in the event, clearing 19-feet just once in three competitions this spring. But her mark on Friday was more than one foot better than her previous best this season and just two inches shy of an NCAA provisional qualifying mark in the event.
During the two-day competition, Sari-Bentzur recorded season-bests in all seven events, shattering her previous personal-best of 5,128 in 2001 by 243 points. Her score was 196 points over the NCAA provisional mark of 5,175 and was just 48 points shy of the 12-year-old UNM record.
UNM sophomores Ben Ortega and Matt Gonzales followed Sari-Bentzur's lead later Friday by posting personal best times. In his first 10,000-meter race of the year, Ortega tore up the track with an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 29:35 to finish fourth in his heat. Ortega, the defending Mountain West Conference champion in the event, finished 10 seconds under the NCAA minimum qualifying time and shattered his personal-best time by 27 seconds.
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He joins Sari-Bentzur and junior David Lloyd as UNM's three provisional qualifiers this season. The marks do not guarantee a berth in the NCAA Track and Field Championships but are required to earn an at-large berth. Conference champions earn automatic bids, and the remainder of the field is selected based on the best provisional marks.
Gonzales nearly joined the trio Friday, finishing one second shy of an NCAA provisional qualifying mark in the 5,000-meters. He clocked a time of 14:08:55 to finish fourth in the event. Gonzales, a cross-country All-American, blew away Ortega's team-leading time in the event by 26 seconds and was 11.51 seconds out of first place.
Meanwhile, sophomore Mark Johnson had a strong decathlon debut, finishing 10th overall at the California Invitational section at Azusa Pacific University Stadium.
Other Lobos at the California Invitational posted strong finishes. Freshman Amber Nolte led the charge, tying for second place in the pole vault with a mark of 11-feet, 5.75-inches. Sophomore Sean Flaherty won his heat and finished 10th overall with a time of 3:53.13 in the 1,500 meters. Other UNM finishes included sophomore Erin Johnson who tied for 16th in the high jump with a 5-feet, 3-inch mark; and sophomore Bobbi Hall, who was 19th in the shot put with a 41-feet, 8.75-inch mark.
Junior Nick Lott ended 31st in the 800 meters with a time of 1:55.75; and red-shirt freshman Nick Martinez finished 27th in the 1,500 meters with a time of 4:00.92. In the pole vault, Todd Burns finished tied for sixth place with a mark of 14-09.00, while freshman Derek Mackel tied for 11th with a mark of 14-03.25.
