On Friday, April 24, the University of New Mexico Lobo track and field team hosted its final home meet of the 2025-26 season with the Don Kirby Tailwind Twilight, celebrating the team’s seniors.
Going into the meet, the men’s team was ranked No. 21 nationally and the women’s team No. 22.
“We love hosting track meets,” Lobos Head coach Darren Gauson said. “This is our second Twilight meet of the year. Having an opportunity for us to have some local schools, it’s great to have UTEP here, New Mexico State, New Mexico Junior College, a few others as well.”
As the end of the season approaches, the team, their friends and family honored their team’s seniors who were competing for the last time at home.
“So I’m kind of sad, a lot of our teammates are leaving as well,” sophomore Li-Mari Dekker said. “They’re seniors, it’s nice to still have them around, but you know, it’s also going to be the last few meets that you’re going to be racing with them, so that’s also kind of sad.”
Mackenzie Hurtubise won the Pole Vault clearing 4.08m.
Lou-Anne Pouzancre Hoyer and Hanna Kiess cracked the Top Five individuals in the 200m, with Pouzancre Hoyer barely missing her all-time best of 23.32 with a 23.51 and Kiess breaking her personal best of 24.02 seconds.
For Kyle Hatler, it was a new personal best of 5.04m in the pole vault, moving him to No. 10 all-time outdoors at UNM.
“Bring the schools in the state and some schools out of state here to Albuquerque,” Matthew Endrödy, who competes in the 1500m and the 800m, said. “Great event. One of the best tracks, I think, and it’s a really fast track too.”
As the season comes to an end and the Mountain West Outdoor Championships draw near, the UNM track and field team is seeking to run away with a few championship titles.
“I really enjoyed this season,” Dekker said. “I’ve progressed a lot throughout this season. Last year, I was injured, so it was mostly just training and seeing a lot of my teammates race. So that was really great.”
Elizabeth Bolke is a freelance reporter for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on X @Dailylobo
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