The New Mexico Classic should’ve been renamed the York Classic on Saturday.
Richard York, a sophomore on the UNM track and field team, broke the Lobo heptathlon record at the Albuquerque Convention Center. He won the seven-event endurance test, racking up 5,537 points.
“I wasn’t quite sure what the record was before I was setting, and I really was looking (to break it),” York said. “It means a lot, especially coming up on nationals and coming up on conference. Hopefully, I can get a bigger score at conference.”
York’s 5,537 point mark is a NCAA provisional qualifying mark. His performance ranks 13th nationally among Division I athletes for the indoor track and field season.
York also broke his own previous UNM all-time indoor record of 5,294, which he set at last year’s New Mexico Classic.
Head coach Joe Franklin said York’s accomplishment is nothing short of remarkable.
“He did a great job, and when he’s in that many events, when one thing goes poorly, it can really affect you, and luckily he didn’t have any of those events,” he said. “He had a lot of lifetime bests, and he just keeps getting better and better.”
And for the Lobos, it just got better and better.
Freshman Warrick Campbell had a personal record in the men’s triple jump, finishing with a distance of 49-00.25. Another personal best, Logan Pflibsen finished sixth in the men’s pole vault with a 16-07.25 mark. For the women, sophomore Precious Selmon ran an 8.63 in the women’s 60-meter hurdles, good for fourth. She also improved in long jump, with a mark of 18-04.50.
Not to be outdone, runner De’Vron Walker had a historic day for UNM, too.
After tying the previous 8.09 mark last season, Walker broke the UNM record in the men’s 60-meter hurdles, trimming one-hundredth of a second to finish in 8.08 during the race’s final heat.
“That’s the difference between (running in) the preliminaries and finals,” he said. “You can get your bad race out of the way, and you can come back with that self-motivation to redeem yourself in your final race.”
Walker, who has been dealing with a strained abductor, fought through the pain and continued to run on it. As a competitor, he said, he had to.
“I would say I am living testimony of how athletes compete,” Walker said. “It affects your self-esteem and your self-motivation. In previous meets, I wouldn’t go all-out because I was afraid of re-injuring it. But I consider myself a veteran in track and field, and it’s all about making sacrifices and taking risks.”
Franklin said he has been pleased with the Lobos’ performances so far, but he is looking forward to the conference championships.
“We have roughly three weeks until … BYU’s last turn here, and we want to give them a run,” he said. “If we want to do that, we’ve got to get going right now and get the wheels turning.”
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