In a weekend with more than 40 top-ten finishes, one athlete rose above an already exceptional team.
Junior distance-runner Jo Moultrie broke school records in the 600-meter and 800-meter races.
Last weekend, Moultrie missed the school record in the 600-meter by just half a second, but this time made the record hers with a time of 1:33.21. In the 800 meter, she finished in 2:10, another school record.
She said she used the offseason and cross country running as a means to get faster for the upcoming track season.
“I’m really pleased,” Moultrie said. “My strength has really built up with the long runs and I think my speed was sitting there and I just put it into the races.”
Head coach Joe Franklin said he was pleased with Moultrie’s finish, but said he expects her to get even better as the season the progresses.
“She is a gifted woman, just like all of our student athletes,” he said. “She has a long way to go to reach her goals.”
Franklin said he was pleased with the overall finish of the team as well, which included 44 top-ten finishers and eight first-place victories.
“I think the women did really well,” Franklin said. “To have last weekend’s school record in the 4×400 meter with the women, and two school records today, I think it’s shaping up pretty well.”
The Lobos took over the podium in pole vault, going 1-2-3 with sophomore Margo Tucker and redshirt junior Amber Menke tied at the 12’-9.5” mark. Sophomore Nathalie Busk finished third at the 11’-9.75” mark.
The team also had strong performances in the mile. It placed five runners in the top 10.
Junior distance runner Imogen Ainsworth led UNM with a third-place finish and a time of 4:55.49. Senior distance runners Sarah Waldron and Ruth Senior and junior distance runner Shawna Winnegar finished fifth through seventh, respectively. Senior distance runner Kirsty Milner rounded out the top 10.
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Franklin said he was impressed with how well the distance runners performed.
He said he expected his mile runners to be in first place in the MWC.
“We just had good performances all around,” he said. “Our women milers did really well, and they will probably be one through four in the conference standings.”
In the sprints, sophomore sprinter Kayla Fisher-Taylor finished 12th in the 60-meter with a 7.89 time.
Junior sprinter Tawsha Brazley finished 10th in the 200-meter with a time of 25.20 and junior sprinter Rachel Kelchner finished ninth in the 400-meter in 58.05.
It wasn’t all good news for the Lobos, as junior hurdler Precious Selmon injured her hamstring on Friday.
Selmon was the conference champion last year in the 60-meter hurdles and was placed on the 2011 All-Indoor MWC team.
Franklin said the injury is a blow but, he said he expects her to recover quickly and the rest of her teammates to step up in her absence.
“Whenever you lose someone that is a conference champion, that’s going to affect you,” he said. “(We want to) get her healthy enough quickly and if not, have someone else step in and increase their performance to pick up the points.”
