Perhaps no one could have guessed the destination for Josh Kerr, but the talented redshirt freshman left his mark by ending up with an individual NCAA championship on Saturday in College Station, Texas.
The NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships did not witness Kerr repeat his sterling triple performance at the Mountain West Championships (he ran three times in three minutes 58 seconds), but his time of 4:03.32 was more than enough to claim his first NCAA title.
Kerr entered the men’s one-mile run ranked as the seventh seed, but stunned No. 1 ranked Oregon senior Edward Cheserek in the race to win by over two seconds.
Cheserek broke the collegiate record in the event two weeks ago with a time of 3:52.01, and we was on his game at nationals, as his 28 points over the weekend broke the individual scoring record in NCAA Division I meet history.
But despite competing against the a runner that put up historical marks, Kerr demonstrated that he was also a championship level runner in his debut at indoor nationals.
“You can’t go into a race not thinking you’ve got a chance,” Kerr said in a post-race interview. “Even though he’s the best the NCAA has ever had.”
The Gilliam Indoor Stadium venue holds special significance for the New Mexico Track and Field team. It was in the same track that Lobo nationalist Lee Emanuel won his first mile title eight years ago.
“We’ve had some good luck in Texas A&M running on that track,” head coach Joe Franklin said in a release. “It was very reminiscent of what Lee Emanuel did when he won the mile title in 2009.”
Kerr’s title gave UNM men 10 points to tie for 22nd place in the team standings. His teammates Elmar Engholm, Mark Haywood, Kristian Hansen Uldbjerg and Graham Thomas finished in 9:46.87 to place 10th in men’s DMR.
“After the mile prelims, we decided to pull Josh off and give him a chance in the mile, which worked out very well in his favor,” Franklin said.
Engholm ran the 1200-meter leg in 2:58.71. Haywood took the 400-meter position to finish in 49.23, Hansen contributed at the 800-meter leg with a time of 1:50.48 and Thomas finished the 1600-meter split at 4:08.46.
On the women’s side, Alice Wright ranked ninth in the 5,000-meter finals on Friday. Her time of 15:56.24 set a new personal record, and was also the second-best time in UNM history.
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Jannell Hadnot and senior Sophie Connor did not advance to the finals of their events, but they still had solid performances against a very accomplished field.
Hadnot finished in 14th place in the triple jump with a leap of 42 feet. She executed a huge final jump that would have landed her in the finals, but missed the opportunity due to a foul on the attempt.
Connor ran in a time of 4:45.36, and claimed a 15th place finish in the final performance for her Lobo career. She was named an All-American last year.
The 2017 NCAA Indoor Championship might be the end of Connor’s career at New Mexico, but not her final destination as she seems to possess the talent to take her to the next level.
UNM will open its outdoor season on Mar. 25 at the UTEP Springtime Invitational in El Paso, Texas.
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.
