UNM TRACK AND FIELD
Thirteen Lobos advance to Mountain West track finals
UNM men's and women's teams in hunt for team championships
Published
Modified
No Lobos won a conference title Friday at the Mountain West Indoor Track and Field Championships. But more than a few put themselves in position to do so Saturday.
Across New Mexico’s men’s and women’s track and field teams, 13 runners advanced to their respective Mountain West finals with strong prelim performances Friday at the Reno-Tahoe Convention Center in Reno, Nevada.
With 29 points in the men’s team standings, UNM finished Friday in second place behind Colorado State (50).
The Lobos lead the women’s team standings with 49 points.
Finals for all remaining events will be held Saturday.
Rebecca Grieve was one of three Lobos to notch the fastest time of their respective prelim rounds, running a 52.71-second 400-meter dash. She will race Rasha Badrani (53.86) and Eva Ngom (54.04) — who finished fourth and seventh in the prelim round, respectively — in Saturday’s final.
In the men’s 400 prelims, Brodie Young (46.57) finished second to Colorado State’s Kenny Carpenter, who clocked a field-best 46.42. UNM’s Kahari Wilbon (46.90) also qualified.
UNM's Joshua Abraham led the men’s mile prelims, finishing in 4:07.25 to clock the fastest time of the prelim round. The freshman from Toulouse, France will join Matthew Endrody (4:09.18) as one of two Lobos to qualify for Saturday’s final.
In the men’s 800 prelims, Endrody (1:52.95) finished second overall to qualify as the Lobos’ lone representative in the final.
Meadow Drebert (2:11.25) and Kylie Feeney (2:08.89) finished fourth and fifth in the women’s 800 prelims and will race in Saturday’s final.
Taniya Looney tied with San Jose State’s Zoe Ewell and Grand Canyon’s Nina Thevenin for the fastest time of the women’s 60 prelims, running a 7.30. A Pittsburg State transfer, Looney’s 7.30 represents her best 60 time of the season.
In the women’s mile prelims, Tilly Simpson dominated her heat to finish in 4:51.36, the third-fastest time of the prelim round. She is set to race in Saturday’s final with Li-Mari Dekker (4:51.72), a freshman from Pretoria, South Africa.
Adryana Shelby clocked an 8.37 in the women’s 60-meter hurdles finals, running the fourth fastest time of the prelim round, while Semaj Thompson finished in 8.16 to grab the final qualifying spot in the men’s 60-meter hurdles final.
In the women’s high jump finals, Ajia Hughes finished third overall at 1.81 meters. The senior Southern Utah transfer also placed seventh in the long jump finals with a day-best jump of 5.94 meters.
Sean Reider covers college football and other sports for the Journal. You can reach him at sreider@abqjournal.com or via X at @lenaweereider.
