Lobo track and field team continued a solid string of performances with individual PRs at the Cardinal Classic in Stanford, California over the weekend.
Head coach Joe Franklin said in an interview that the lineup would be relatively small for this weekend.
It turned out that some Lobos rested their legs last week as they were leading in the national rankings for their speciality events.
However, New Mexico needed to get key points at the Cardinal Classic with the conference championship quickly approaching in three weeks. The Lobos again posted sterling team performances with 22 top-10 finishes in California.
The women’s team in particular saw many personal records and season bests from its distance runners.
Natasha Bernal posted a new PR of 10:15.90 to finish fifth in the 3000 steeplechase, a time good for third in program history.
In the invitational 5000 race, Sophie Eckel finished in seventh place with a time of 16:08.09. Kendall Kelly finished ran a PR of 16:26.36 to place third in her section of the race.
The duo also competed in the 1500-meter run. Kelly finished seventh in her race with a time of 4:37.58. In the same race, Eckel placed ninth (4:46.86).
Kieran Casey ran a season best in the 1500 to place second in her race ( 4:25.23).
In the 10,000, Sarah Laverty improved on her season best time by 45 seconds (35:35.46) to finish fourth.
Larimar Rodriguez also finished ninth in the 400-meter dash (57.44).
In the field events, Amaris Blount grabbed a runner-up finish in the hammer throw with a toss of 185 feet, 3 inches. Alison Mady placed ninth with a toss of 141 feet, 10 inches.
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In the javelin throw, Morgan Smith finished ninth with her toss of 114 feet, 7 inches.
On the men’s side, the team would continue to move in the national rankings with solid marks from both track and field events.
In the 200-meter run, Carlos Salcido placed third with a time of 21.31. Mark Haywood (11th place, time of 21.91) and Isaac Gonzales(13th, 21.91) also posting season bests.
In the 800, Kristian Uldbjerg Hansen ran at the fourth place in 1:50.93 in his section. Gavin Sleeter placed right after Hansen at fifth (1:51.26).
Emil Danielsson ranked seventh in his section in the 1500 with a time of 3:46.43.
In the 10,000-meter run, Alexander Palm placed eighth in 29:54.79.
On the fields, Tanner Battikha took sixth in the long jump (23 feet, 8 1/4 inches), and ranked seventh in the triple jump (46 feet, 3/4 inches).
In the pole vault, Jason Atencio and Nathan Burnett shared third place with their marks of 15 feet, 5 1/2 inches.
Malik Matthews-Gordon finished fifth in the javelin throw (191 feet, 3 inches). Nik Aston placed at ninth (172 feet, 9 inches).
The Lobos will next head to the Steve Scott Invitational next weekend in Irvine, California.
Bo Yu is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers beach volleyball, track and field, cross country and volleyball. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Bo_YuB.
