The Bryan Clay Invitational once again turned out to be the meet of promise for Lobo track and field team.
The Lobos notched one personal title, seven top-three finishes and six other top-10 finishes on Thursday and Friday in Azusa, California.
It was the first time in the outdoor season that New Mexico competed its full team.
“Everybody is in their primary events, and seeing how things go,” head coach Joe Franklin said of the goal for the meet in an interview.
With conference championships and NCAA preliminaries in about one month, the Lobos needed to post sterling performances to secure their bids for the nationals.
Sophomore distance runner Josh Kerr ran incredibly in his season debut in the men’s 1500-meter on Friday to win the title of the fastest section in 3:35.99.
Kerr’s new personal record moved to sixth all-time in NCAA history, and smashed the school record by Lee Emanuel.
“You don’t want to put a limit on anybody, whether it’s Josh or anybody,” Franklin said.
Along with Kerr, the other Lobos excelled in their specialty events.
In 5000-meter run, Alexander Palm placed third with a time of 14:11.88, and Emil Danielsson ranked eighth (14:16.79).
Mark Haywood took the fourth place (47.66) in the 400 meters, and Carlos Salcido ran to fifth in 47.76.
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In the 400 hurdles, Mustafa Mudada placed at sixth place (52.68).
Out on the fields, Sam Trigg picked up third place in the invitational section of the triple jump with a leap of 51 feet 9 1/4 inches.
In the long jump, Tanner Battikha jumped a new personal record of 24 feet 1 3/4 inches to place third.
On the women’s side, Jannell Hadnot took third in the invitational section of triple jump (42 feet, 10 1/4 inches). Hadnot leapt a new personal record in the long jump with 19 feet 1/2 inches.
Kyra Mohns logged in her new career best of 5,125 points to place fourth in the two-day heptathlon. Her record moved to fifth in the program history.
On the track, Alice Wright led the Lobos to pick up the third place in the fastest section of 5,000-meter run with a time of 15:53.28. Natasha Bernal ran a time of 16:28.34 to place 14th in the same section.
Sophie Eckel won her section of 5000 meters in 16:34.26. Kendall Kelly came behind Eckel to place second in 16:36.20.
The Lobos will travel to Stanford for the Inaugural Cardinal Classic next weekend.
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.
