LoboTrack Sports Editor / Nathan Farmer
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12 Monday January 30, 2012
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Women jump, sprint, throw to 40 top-ten finishes by Nathan Farmer
sports@dailylobo.com In a weekend with more than 40 top-ten finishes, one athlete rose above an already exceptional team. Junior distance-runner Jo Moultrie broke school records in the 600-meter and 800-meter races. Last weekend, Moultrie missed the school record in the 600-meter by just half a second, but this time made the record hers with a time of 1:33.21. In the 800 meter, she finished in 2:10, another school record. She said she used the offseason and cross country running as a means to get faster for the upcoming track season. “I’m really pleased,” Moultrie said. “My strength has really built up with the long runs and I think my speed was sitting there and I just put it into the races.” Head coach Joe Franklin said he was pleased with Moultrie’s finish, but said he expects her to get even better as the season the progresses. “She is a gifted woman, just like all of our student athletes,” he said. “She has a long way to go to reach her goals.” Franklin said he was pleased with the overall finish of the team as well, which included 44 top-ten finishers and eight first-place victories. “I think the women did really well,” Franklin said. “To have last weekend’s school record in the 4x400 meter with the women, and two school records today, I think it’s shaping up pretty well.” The Lobos took over the podium in pole vault, going 1-2-3 with sophomore Margo Tucker and redshirt junior Amber Menke tied at the 12’-9.5” mark. Sophomore Nathalie Busk finished third at the 11’-9.75” mark. The team also had strong performances in the mile. It placed five runners in the top 10.
Junfu Han / Daily Lobo Ashlee Smalley runs in the women’s mile race on Saturday afternoon at the Albuquerque Convention Center. Smalley finished 14th, with a time of 5:26.03. Junior distance runner Imogen Ainsworth led UNM with a thirdplace finish and a time of 4:55.49. Senior distance runners Sarah Waldron and Ruth Senior and junior distance runner Shawna Winnegar finished fifth through seventh, respectively. Senior distance runner Kirsty Milner rounded out the top 10. Franklin said he was impressed with how well the distance runners performed.
He said he expected his mile runners to be in first place in the MWC. “We just had good performances all around,” he said. “Our women milers did really well, and they will probably be one through four in the conference standings.” In the sprints, sophomore sprinter Kayla Fisher-Taylor finished 12th in the 60-meter with a 7.89 time. Junior sprinter Tawsha Brazley finished 10th in the 200-meter with
a time of 25.20 and junior sprinter Rachel Kelchner finished ninth in the 400-meter in 58.05. It wasn’t all good news for the Lobos, as junior hurdler Precious Selmon injured her hamstring on Friday. Selmon was the conference champion last year in the 60-meter hurdles and was placed on the 2011 All-Indoor MWC team. Franklin said the injury is a blow but, he said he expects her to recov-
er quickly and the rest of her teammates to step up in her absence. “Whenever you lose someone that is a conference champion, that’s going to affect you,” he said. “(We want to) get her healthy enough quickly and if not, have someone else step in and increase their performance to pick up the points.”
Men hurtle to four first-place finishes by Mundo Carrillo ecarr50@unm.edu
The men’s track team dominated the Convention Center this weekend at the New Mexico Invitational. UNM had four first-place finishes. Freshman sprinter Beejay Lee won the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.81 seconds, and sophomore mid-distance runner James Senior won the 600-meter run with a time of 1:22.31. Senior hurdler Chad Clark won the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 55.92 and freshman jumper Markus Miller won the high jump by clearing a height of 1.99 meters. “The men did very well,” head track coach Joe Franklin said. “We’re making a lot of progress and that’s good because our conference championship is in exactly four weeks.” The Lobos also had four secondplace finishes and had three top-5 finishers in the long jump, pole vault and 600-meter run. The four second-place finishes include junior jumper Kendall Spencer with a leap of 7.48 meters in the long jump and sophomore pole vaulter Logan Pflibson with a height of 5.22 meters.
Junior sprinter Derek Montoya finished with a time of 1:24.07 in the 600 meters. Junior triple-jumper Floyd Ross jumped 15.56 meters in the triple jump, which was only .13 meters short of first place. Despite losing the event by narrow margins, Ross said he is happy with his performance. “I think I was pretty good, but I could always do better,” he said. “It’s just a matter of time before everything comes together and I get that big jump. I just have to be patient.” Even though Ross and Spencer finished second in their respective events, Franklin said his jumpers are skilled. “Floyd (Ross) has a lot of ability and Kendall Spencer right now is one of the best long jumpers in the country,” he said. Ross also finished third in the long jump, with a distance of 6.92 meters. Other third-place finishes include senior distance runner Matt Everett in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:56.12, junior hurdler De’Vron Walker in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.1 seconds, and junior pole vaulter Robert Warensjo with a height of 5.07 meters in the pole vault.
Junfu Han/ Daily Lobo UNM’s De’Vron Walker (right) looks over his shoulder at Purdue’s Joshua Hembrough, running independently, while leaping the last hurdle during men’s 60m hurdle final. Walker finished in third place with a time of 8.10 . Ross said that the team can easily take the MWC championship in late February at the Convention Center. “I think we have a pretty legitimate team,” he said. “Everybody’s good; we all work hard. When conference comes, I think we’re going to easily take that.”
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