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Lobos Set To Host Mountain West Conference Championships
Final chance to qualify for upcoming NCAA national and regional meets.
May 12, 2003
Complete Release in PDF Format
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - The University of New Mexico welcomes seven teams to Great Friends of UNM Track Stadium for the 2003 Mountain West Conference Men's and Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The meet opens at noon on Wednesday, May 14, with the two-day decathlon and heptathlon competition. Track and field event preliminaries and finals continue on Friday and Saturday. Admission to the decathlon/heptathlon competition is free, while single session tickets for Friday and Saturday are six dollars for adults and three dollars for children (high school and under). New Mexico is hosting its first conference championship meet since the 1996 Western Athletic Conference championships where UNM finished seventh (22.5 points) and fifth (47 points) in the men's and women's competitions, respectively. This will also be the Lobos' first full home meet of the year. UNM's home-opener, the Modrall Sperling Don Kirby Invitational (March 20-21), was limited to multi-event competition only after heavy snows forced most of the visiting teams, including MWC foes Colorado State and Wyoming, to cancel their travel plans. The Lobos have not competed since busing down to El Paso for the UTEP Twilight meet on May 3. Complete information and results from the 2003 MWC Outdoor Track & Field Championships can be found on the official website of the Mountain West Conference... www.themwc.com SCOUTING THE MOUNTAIN WEST The Mountain West Conference is comprised of eight full women's track and field teams and five complete men's squads. UNLV and San Diego State do not have a men's track program, while the Utah men's team is limited to distance runners only. New Mexico is the fourth school to host the MWC Outdoor Championships, following Brigham Young (2000), San Diego State (2001) and Air Force (2002). The BYU men and women have swept each of the first three outdoor conference meets and have captured 13 of the 14 indoor and outdoor titles since the inaugural league championship meet in 2000. Colorado State is the only school to dethrone the Cougars when its men won the 2002 MWC Indoor Track Championship. This spring, the BYU men (No. 9 - Trackshark.com) and women (No. 13 - Trackshark.com) are both ranked among the nation's top-25. San Diego State has also earned a lofty national ranking, sitting at No. 9 on the Trackshark.com women's top-25 list (May 7). UNM OUTDOOR MWC CHAMPIONSHIPS HISTORY New Mexico has captured seven men's and women's event titles in three Mountain West Conference Outdoor Championship meet appearances. Junior Mark Johnson is the defending champion in the decathlon, while fellow junior Ben Ortega (a redshirt this season) won the 10,000 meters as a true freshman in 2001. Former Lobo Monique Harris is the only triple jump champion in MWC history, capturing three-straight titles from 2000-2002, while ex-UNM sprinter Arline Smith swept the 200 and 400-meter races in 2001. The Lobo men have also earned all-MWC honors in 15 individual events and three relays, while the women have captured all-conference laurels in 13 individual events and two relays.
Last year, the New Mexico men turned in their finest MWC
performance ever, scoring in nearly every event en route to
125.5-point output. Though they finished fourth for the second
straight season, the men improved by 34.5 points from their 2001
total and finished just 23 points out of third to earn head coach
Matt Henry MWC Men's Outdoor Coach of the Year honors. The
125.5 points were also more than the Lobo men had accumulated
in the five conference championship meets combined (114 pts.
1996-2000), prior to Henry's arrival. While the women struggled in
the team scoring, senior Monique Harris, junior Keren
Sari-Bentzur, and freshman Kelli Myers combined for five all-MWC
honors. Overall, fifteen UNM athletes took home all-Mountain West
honors, including 12 on the men's side, while Harris and
sophomore Mark Johnson (decathlon) won MWC titles.
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