New Mexico’s track and field team failed to defend their conference crown at the Albuquerque Convention Center in the Mountain West Indoor Championships, but still turned in strong performances facilitating individual titles.
Despite the men’s run of three straight and the women’s streak of back-to-back conference championships ending, head coach Joe Franklin said he was pleased with the way the team competed.
Both squads finished in fourth place overall. The men scored in nearly every event and tallied 101 points for the meet, which Franklin said exceeded expectations. And the women accumulated 65 points over the three-day event.
“We had some really good performances,” he said. “It was a really good track meet across the board.”
Jannell Hadnot topped the field in the women’s triple jump. Her mark of 42 feet, 2 inches earned her an indoor conference title in the event. She is one of a handful Lobos that have put themselves in contention for a chance to compete at the national championships.
Allan Hamilton competed and scored in multiple events, which garnered him an outstanding performer award. He successfully defended his men’s long jump title, jumping 25 feet 3 1/2 inches.
Teammates Yannick Roggatz and Samuel Trigg finished in second and fifth place with marks of 25 feet 1/2 inches and jumped of and 2nd place Yannick Roggatz 25 feet 1/2 inches and 23 feet 2 1/2 inches, respectively.
Hamilton also finished second in the triple jump with a mark of 50 feet 10 3/4 inches and scored in the men’s 60-meter dash.
The head coach said one of the performances that stood out was Ridge Jones’ 60-meter dash. Franklin said Jones had not been at the level he was last year, and that his run showed a lot of promise for the outdoor season.
Three Lobo teammates scored in the 60-meter dash. Hamilton came in fifth place at 6.84 seconds, Carlos Wiggins sixth at 6.87 and Scott Bajere placed seventh at 6.90.ourth (6.84). Jones seemed excited after turning in the top time of 6.69 seconds.
“It feels real great,” Jones said. “This year hasn’t been going as good as it should’ve been for me, but I managed to pull it off.”
New Mexico did well in distance running again as Sophie Connor and Calli Thackery placed first and second in the women’s 1-mile run. Connor completed the run in 4:45.76 and Thackery did so in 4:45.79.
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In the men’s 1-mile, Elmar Engholm finished seventh with a time of 4:16.86 in the mile, and came back to run a lifetime best of 1:50.03 in the men’s 800-meter run to finish in second place. Franklin said Engholm has never ran multiple events in one meet well before the championships.
“I told him after the race, ‘You’ve finally arrived,”’ Franklin said. “It was very positive for him. He’s arrived as a distance runner.”
Franklin said the rest of the conference has continued to close the gap and continues to get better. He said Holly Van Grinsven ran essentially the same time that won the women’s 200-meter run last year, but finished fourth with a time of 54.42 this year
Van Grinsven also scored by placing third in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.36 and was part of the 1600-meter relay team, which ran 3:43.07 to place third as well.
Franklin said the team will take a few days off to rest and enjoy life before prepared for the NCAA Indoor championships, which take place in Birmingham, Alabama on March 11-12.
Robert Maler is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers cross country, tennis, and track and field. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @robert_maler.
