by Andre van der Merwe
Daily Lobo
Several track and field powerhouses met at one of the biggest indoor meets of the 2006 season Saturday at the Albuquerque Convention Center.
The Modrall Sperling Lobo Invitational brought together some of the fastest athletes in the nation, along with some of the best field performers this year. Some of the teams that participated were No. 5 Louisiana State University, No. 20 University of Southern California and No. 2 Florida State University.
The meet was filled with many eye-opening performances, as 44 provisional qualifying marks for the 2006 NCAA Indoor Championship meet were recorded. There were also seven automatic qualifying marks met.
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UNM head track and field coach Matt Henry was thrilled with the outcome and hopes this meet will open doors for more prestigious schools to compete in Albuquerque.
"There were some great performances," he said. "When people look at the results they'll definitely want to come here."
Some of the runners that led the charge for the Lobos were junior Jeremy Johnson, seniors Timmie Murphy and Jacquelyne Gallegos and freshman Leslie Luna. Johnson, Murphy, Gallegos and Luna all competed in the 3,000-meter run.
Johnson, who was seeded fourth before the meet, grabbed a second-place victory with a time of 8:41.66.
The trio of Murphy, Gallegos and Luna crossed the tape in third, fourth and fifth place, respectively. The three girls charged to the front and ran side by side for much of the race. Murphy pulled away in the last 150 meters and completed the 3,000-meter race in 10:09.24. Gallegos crossed the finish line at 10:17.41. Luna passed the finish line right on Gallegos' tail with a time of 10:18.62.
"I'm proud of the 3,000-meter girls," Henry said. "They did a good job."
In the pole vault, senior Derek Mackel had the home crowd cheering as he attempted to beat out one of the best pole vaulters in the nation. Mackel ended up finishing second overall behind the defending national champion from Brigham Young University, Robison Pratt. Mackel may be on his way to the NCAA Championships with his performance. Mackel and Pratt cleared 17-11, well above the 17-00.75 provisional mark for the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Henry said he was excited with how Mackel performed, as well as with teammate Robert Caldwell, who finished third with a jump of 17-02.75.
"I think the highlight of the meet would have to be Derek Mackel and Robert Caldwell on the pole vault," Henry said. "That was very, very good for us."
Mackel said he was happy with his performance and thrilled for what he can do in the future.
"I'm excited to see what I can do next week and the week after, and hopefully I can get to nationals and show the world what I can do," Mackel said.
The competition in the 4 x 400-meter relay, the final event of the day, looked like a preview of the NCAA Indoor Championship meet, containing three of the top five relay teams in the nation. In the event, LSU took home the top spot with a relay time of 3:08.01, which was good enough to qualify for the provisional mark.
Henry said the meet was a success and was proud to host in Albuquerque.
"It was a nice meet," Henry said. "The athletes we put out there were competitive and we did some nice things today."
