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The UNM track and field team has gone inside for the winter.
The team opened the 2013 indoor season on Saturday at the Lumberjack Team Challenge in Northern Arizona’s Walkup Skydome.
Competing against the Lobos at the meet were Arizona, Arizona State, Grand Canyon, Southern Utah and the host school Northern Arizona.
“We were pretty excited to get out here for the first meet,” senior Logan Rosenberg said. “It’s good to get the first one done and shake the rust off.”
With many athletes still focused more on training rather than competing, not all of the Lobos were competing in their primary events. The team had no athletes entered in the long jump and triple jump, though all of the jumpers were entered in the 60-meter and 200-meter sprints. Many of the athletes, including all but two of the distance runners, remained in Albuquerque.
Despite the smaller squad, the Lobos had a strong showing. The team claimed 12 top-five finishes, including one victory.
That victory came as part of a 1-2 finish in the women’s pole vault, as senior Amber Menke cleared a height of 12-8.25 to best the field. Junior Margo Tucker finished second to Menke, clearing a height of 12-4.5.
“Having Amber back after she redshirted (2012’s) outdoor was great,” UNM head coach Joe Franklin said.
The men vaulters also posted a pair of top five finishes, with junior Logan Pflibsen taking fourth and senior Robert Warensjo tying with Arizona State’s senior Jeremy Marcinko for fifth. Pfilbsen and Warensjo posted heights of 16-3.5 and 15-9.75, respectively.
The two distance runners who did make the trip, Rosenberg and junior Julie Brasher, made sure the meet was worth their time. Brasher closed quickly to finish second in the 800-meter run, posting a time of 2:19.34. Rosenberg made his move mid-race en route to a second place finish in the mile. His runner-up time was 4:24.80.
“I started off pretty slow, just to see where I was at,” Rosenberg said. “(Coach) Joe had me move up and run faster each lap. I wasn’t really worried about place or time, but I ended up second.”
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The sprints brought more success for UNM, thanks in large part to the team’s freshmen. Freshman Carlos Wiggens finished second in the 200-meter dash with a time of 21.88, while fellow frosh Ridge Jones finished fourth in the 60-meter dash by running a time of 6.84. In the women’s sprints, junior Kayla Fisher-Taylor took third in the 200-meter with a time of 25.01 and freshman Zoe Howell placed fifth in the 400-meter dash with time of 57.65.
“Zoe did a great job for her first race,” Franklin said. “She came out and ran really, really well.”
Seniors De’Vron Walker and Marin Schweigert rounded out the Lobo’s collection of top-five finishes. Running a time of 8.28, Walker finished fourth in the 60-meter hurdles. Schweigert cleared 5-2.25 in the high jump to take fifth in the event.
Also competing in the meet were two veterans of the 2012 London Olympics. Georganne Moline, a senior from Arizona, represented the United States in London with a fifth place finish in the 400-meter hurdles. In the Skydome, she represented the Wildcats in the 60-meter dash, the 800-meter run and the 4×400-meter relay. Cam Levins represented Canada in the 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter runs in London. Now running for Nike, Levins raced unattached the 800-meter run in last Saturday’s meet.
