by David J. Chavez
Daily Lobo
UNM wide receiver Aaron Brack ran Saturday, but it wasn't on the football field.
The senior traded in his helmet and pads for some track spikes to run the fastest time of the year (7.01) for the Lobos in the 60-yard dash and came in eighth at the Albuquerque Invitational at the Convention Center.
Brack said his times are going to keep getting better, especially since it was his first indoor meet in two years with the track team.
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"I need to get in better shape and improve how I run the high curves on the indoor track," Brack said. "My results are always getting stronger, and I'm always shaving time off my races as I get more practice in."
Timmie Murphy and Leslie Luna ran stride for stride in the 3,000-meter run, as Murphy took first place with a time of 9:52.00 and Luna finished in second with a time of 9:52.63. In the mile run, Murphy ran the fastest time (4:58.24) in head coach Matt Henry's six-year tenure to finish fifth.
Luna finished right behind her once again in sixth with a time of 5:04.63. Luna set a personal record at this weekend's meet and has done so at every meet this year.
Luna said she was surprised she did so well, considering she had to run both races in one day.
"My performance today was good, considering that we had to run doubles, and we only had a little over an hour in between races," she said. "I thought I was going to be worn out, but I was able to run my personal records, so I guess I wasn't that tired."
Robert Caldwell battled through the flu to take first place in the pole vault with a height of 17-03.00. The performance gave Caldwell his first career win on an indoor track and marks the second time he's exceeded the NCAA provisional qualifying standard.
Lobo Zach Graham vaulted well enough for a second-place finish with a height of 16-00.75.
Whitney Johnson vaulted her way to a fourth-place finish and her second-best height of 12-06.25.
With two weeks before the MWC Championships, Henry said the team still needs to improve if it is going to peak at the right time.
"My question to every one of our athletes every week is, 'Did you have a personal record? Were you better this week than you were last week?'" Henry said. "Ideally, that's what we hope for going into the MWC Championships."
Henry has changed up some of the events his athletes compete in with favorable results. Murphy and Luna don't usually compete in the mile, but are going to start after their fifth- and sixth-place performances Saturday.
"We tend to focus on the athletes who place in the top group, and we're starting to see some athletes placing high in events that they're not familiar with," Henry said. "A lot of people don't notice that, and we hope that the trend continues and more attention gets paid to that."
