by Steven Fernandez
Daily Lobo
There may not have been a better way for the UNM track and field team to end its regular season.
The Lobos won 15 of 38 events at Saturday's Don Kirby Memorial Invitational, the last competition before the conference
championships.
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Women's sprinter Ariel Burr highlighted the day by qualifying for the NCAA Midwest Regional in the 200-meter dash, winning with a time of 23.66.
Burr - who has already qualified for the regional meet in the 400 - said her performance in the 200 will help her in the 400.
"I wanted to run in the 23s today. I didn't necessarily think I would run a 23.6, but I'm really excited about that," she said. "I need to get my 200 down for my (400) time anyway, so I'm pretty excited about that."
Burr became the first Lobo woman to qualify in the 200, and she had three wins on Saturday.
In the women's 4x100, Burr, Alesha Walker, KC Pritchard and Kristan Matison won in 46.39. Matison also picked up a victory in the 100, stopping the clock
in 12.02.
At the end of the meet, Burr and Matison teamed up with Sandy Fortner and Christina Zarrella to win the women's 4x400
in 3:45.71.
Zarrella, the team's anchor leg, held off New Mexico Junior College's final leg to secure the victory. She also placed second in the women's 800 with a personal-best time of 2:14.28.
In the men's 4x400, Taylor Siemon, Jarrin Solomon, Kurt Henry and Randle McCain won in 3:11.18. The Lobos beat out each of the five teams by at least seven seconds but missed qualifying for the regional meet by more than a second.
Solomon - who won the men's 400 earlier in the day with a time of 46.89 - said UNM's time in the relay is encouraging heading into the Mountain West Conference Championships.
"We ran 3:11 by ourselves, which is pretty good," he said. "If we get TCU and a couple others in there, we'll definitely run 3:10."
UNM also had outstanding performances in the field events. Javelin throwers Katie Coronado and Anthony Fairbanks dominated their fields.
Coronado won the women's javelin throw with a mark of 167-6, about 30 feet farther than her nearest competitor.
Meanwhile, Fairbanks reached 208-9, more than 18 feet better than second place.
UNM head coach Matt Henry said Fairbanks and Coronado were impressive, considering they had to battle adverse weather conditions.
"Both of them had a great day, especially under the circumstances," he said. "That wind was coming in hard. For both of them to have the throws they did today was really outstanding."
In the high jump, Tiyana Peters cleared 5-8 3/4 to win the event by 3 feet.
Hagit Salamon picked up two more victories for the Lobos, winning the long jump and triple jump. She cleared 19-2 1/2 in the long jump and won the triple jump in 40-1 1/2.
Lobo Domnick Meadows won the men's triple jump with a personal-record leap of 48-6. He also finished second in the long jump at 23-3 1/4.
In the distance events, Brian Vallie won the men's 1,500-meter run in 3:56.39.
In the women's 5,000, Leslie Luna picked up her first victory of the season in 17:39.02.
In the hurdles, Mark Lamb won the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 14.80, while Kyle Henry finished third in the 400-meter hurdles, running 54.39.
Because of the success UNM had in its final regular season meet, the Lobos are going into the MWC Championships with a lot to feel good about, Solomon said.
"I think it was good," he said. "A lot of people had (personal records). I think it was just a good tune-up meet for the
conference meet."
