by Steven Fernandez
Daily Lobo
Despite two fifth-place team finishes Saturday, Matt Henry was all smiles.
The Mountain West Conference Championships ended Saturday, and Henry, head coach of the UNM track and field team, was giddy about the results even though the men's and women's teams took fifth place overall.
"We probably did better than I thought we would," Henry said. "I'm really happy with what we did today. I hope we can continue with it in the outdoor season."
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Host UNM earned All-MWC honors 10 times, four for the men's side and six times on the women's side - a school record.
The Lobos also broke school records in five different events. Both teams finished fifth overall, matching both team's MWC bests.
Junior Jeremy Johnson had a busy weekend, placing second in the men's 5,000-meter run on Friday and following that up with a fourth-place finish in the 3K on Saturday.
Johnson said his legs were tired Saturday, but he was happy with how he raced overall.
"It's an awesome feeling," Johnson said. "My high school coach is here. My neighbors are here. There's nothing like running for your home crowd."
Another runner who had a standout weekend was Timmie Murphy. The senior ran the anchor leg - the last leg - in UNM's distance medley relay that placed third on Friday. Her most impressive run came Saturday, when she placed second in the women's 3K. Murphy stopped the clock in 9:37.20, breaking teammate Jacquelyne Gallegos' school record of 9:45.99.
Murphy said she stacked up well against the tough competition at the championships.
"I think we all ran a really strong race," she said. "Conference is just a completely different level, so I'm happy with how I ran."
In the field events, Derek Mackel and Robert Caldwell continued to shine on the pole vault. Both have already surpassed the 17-foot provisional qualifying mark for the NCAA Championships and had strong showings at conference. Caldwell finished second (17-7 1/4), while Mackel (17-3 1/2) placed third.
Mackel said he would have liked to win the event, but he is excited about the duo's trip to the NCAA Championships.
"It's what I've been looking forward to all year," Mackel said.
Caldwell also said he can't wait for nationals, and he is confident he and Mackel will continue to perform well.
"I think it gives us good momentum," Caldwell said. "We'll be ready to hit it hard. We'll be ready to jump some bigger bars."
One of the surprises of the meet was the performance of Riann Lucy. The junior had her breakout race of the year, placing third in the women's 800-meter run.
Lucy said she surprised herself by making it onto the All-MWC team.
"I'm so excited," Lucy said. "I knew I was going to place good, but I had no idea that I was going to be all-conference."
Also gaining all-conference honors on the women's side was sophomore Ariel Burr in the 400-meter run. Burr blazed to a second-place finish with a school record time of 54.27.
Henry is thrilled about how much improvement Burr can make in the future, he said.
"Ariel's still very young," Henry said. "She's still learning and I don't know that she won't run really, really fast one of these days. That's going to be fun to watch."
In the women's high jump, freshmen Tiyana Peters and Khristina Curtis tied for second place with a jump of 5-7 3/4.
While Henry would have liked the teams to place higher, he was proud of the strong individual performances, he said.
"Our numbers aren't that big," Henry said. "We put one kid in each final and just crossed our fingers that we could do something good with that person. I'm really pleased with our performance today, both men and women."
