With one of their stiffest competitors out of the way, this weekend the men’s and women’s track and field squads vie for their first conference titles.
The 2012 Mountain West indoor track and field championships are held this weekend at the Albuquerque Convention Center. With the departure of Brigham Young University from the conference, a team that had won the previous three men’s and women’s titles, the championship is up for grabs this season.
“Right now Boise (State) and Air Force on the men’s side are way out in front on paper,” UNM head coach Joe Franklin said. “Luckily, we don’t play games on paper.”
Franklin said TCU is the favorite on the women’s side.
But the Lobos have talent of their own — especially in long distance running.
Franklin, a notorious recruiter of successful long distance runners, will have many of those athletes on display Thursday through Saturday.
On the men’s side, senior distance runner Ross Millington holds the fastest 3,000-meter run (7:49.11) in the conference and the fourth best in the nation.
He’ll try for two titles this weekend, also running the mile.
“This year it seems like the teams have gotten better, but I want to win both (races),” Millington said.
Franklin said Millington could go down in UNM history as the best long distance runner the Lobos have ever seen.
“Right now he’s the fastest 3,000-meter runner in the history of the University of New Mexico and he may be the fastest miler by the time it’s all done,” Franklin said. “He could go down as the greatest distance runner in University of New Mexico history.”
Millington, who also runs cross country for UNM, could not finish at the NCAA championships last November because of an illness, a setback that fueled him for this indoor track season.
“I wasn’t really happy about that, so I trained really hard over Christmas,” Millington said. “I’ve been very pleased with how things are going right now.”
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Junior distance runner Sam Evans joins Millington in the mile event. He is ranked third (4:05.00) in the MWC and 94th in the country. Sophomore distance runner Gabe Aragon will run the 800-meter, where he ranks first (1:49.37) in the MWC and 32nd nationwide.
Junior distance runner Sean Stan holds the third-fastest time (14:14.24) in the conference in the 5,000-meter and is 60th in the NCAA.
On the women’s side, junior distance runner Josephine Moultrie has taken the Lobo program by storm.
With three school records in the last two meets, the top-ranked 800-meter (2:09.27) and mile runner (4:42.30) in the conference is on the brink of greatness.
“We haven’t had a great miler yet,” Franklin said. “We’ve had some good milers but no great ones. Maybe Josephine has a chance to be the first.”
Joining Moultrie in the mile are junior distance runner Imogen Ainsworth and senior distance runner Sarah Waldron, who are ranked second (4:49.05) and third (4:52.15) in the conference, respectively.
Ainsworth will also participate in the 3,000-meter run, where she is ranked fourth (9:40.52) in the MWC.
In the 5,000-meter, Waldron and junior distance runner Lacey Oeding are ranked first (16:14.65) and third (16:44.01) in the MWC and 22nd and 70th in the NCAA, respectively.
MWC top-10 mile runners senior Ruth Senior and junior Shawna Winnegar will not compete this weekend because of injuries.
“It’s going to be a great event,” Franklin said. “It’s a great weekend for track and field in Albuquerque. And maybe if we could have things fall right, we can challenge.”
MWC Track Championship
Friday and Saturday, all day
