With the conference championships in less than two weeks, the Lobo track and field team continued to make progress this Friday and Saturday at Longhorn Invitational in Austin, Texas.
“This was an excellent meet for our group of 18 athletes that competed,” UNM assistant coach Rich Ceronie said in a release. “They all made significant progress in the Mountain West rankings.”
Although New Mexico did not send its full team to Texas, the small pack participation still finished with a fifth place (53 points) for the men and an eighth place (28 points) for the women.
Head coach Joe Franklin said earlier on Tuesday the athletes needed to make sure they would make steps towards the conference lists.
The Lobos not only achieved this goal at Longhorn Invitational, but also improved their rankings in the NCAA qualifying lists.
On the men’s side, Sam Trigg leapt 52 feet, 10 3/4 inches to win the triple jump and set a new personal record.
With the new career-mark, Trigg moved to lead in the Mountain West Conference, and ranked seventh in the NCAA West Region and 13th in the national ranking.
In the long jump, Tanner Battikha posted a new personal record of 24 feet 9 3/4 inches to place seventh. He also led the MW in the event.
Jason Atencio tied his all-time personal record of 16 feet 3/4 inches to place fifth in the pole vault. He moved up to place fifth in the conference.
In the javelin throw, Malik Matthews-Gordon ranked fifth with his career best 200 feet and placed fifth in the conference.
On the track, Carlos Salcido finished a ninth place in the 200-meter dash in 21.07 seconds. He moved to rank No.2 in the MW.
Salcido and Battikha also ran a fifth-place with Mark Haywood, Alejandro Goldston in the 400-meter relay. Their time of 41.52 ranked fifth in the conference.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Haywood finished 10th in the 400-meter run in 48.55. In the 400-meter hurdles, Mustafa Mudada ran at fourth place in 53.12, and Cheyne Dorsey placed sixth (53.65).
On the women’s side, triple jumper Jannell Hadnot won the event with a leap of 43 feet 5 inches. The season-best moved her to lead in the MW, and placed her at No. 7 in the West Region and 15th nationally.
In the javelin throw, Kyra Mohns ranked fifth with a toss of 119 feet 10 inches. She placed 10th in the MW with this season best mark.
The duo of Larimar Rodriguez and Hannah Riker-Urrutia both added top-10 finishes in the women’s 800-meter run.
Rodriguez ran in 2:14.86 to place third, Riker-Urrutia placed seventh (2:16.34).
The full team of the Lobos will return to action on May 10th to compete in the Mountain West Outdoor Championships.
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.
