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Lobo Duo Leads New Mexico On National Stage
Fourth-ranked Gonzales looks to become first men's All-American since 1991.
June 11, 2003
Complete Release in PDF Format
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Senior Keren Sari-Bentzur and sophomore Matt Gonzales will carry the University of New Mexico flag this week at the 2003 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Sacramento, Calif. Gonzales, who also qualified in the 1,500, will only compete in the 10,000-meter race on Thursday night at 10:40 p.m. (MST). Sari-Bentzur, meanwhile, opens the first of seven heptathlon events at 11 a.m., Friday morning. The heptathlon competition concludes on Friday morning with the final event beginning at 3:40 p.m. The meet will be held at the 21,000-seat Hornet Stadium on the A.G. Spanos Sports Complex on the campus of CSU-Sacramento. MEET INFORMATION/RESULTS Complete information and results from the 2003 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships can be found on the official website of the California State University-Sacramento athletic department: www.hornetsports.com/ncaa THE ROAD TO SACRAMENTO For the second-straight season, New Mexico qualified two athletes to the NCAA Championships. Senior Keren Sari-Bentzur makes her second appearance in the heptathlon, while sophomore Matt Gonzales will make his debut on the national track and field stage in the 10,000 meters. Gonzales enters the meet ranked fourth in the nation in the 10K with a top time of 28:38.64. The Santa Fe native clocked the time in his season-opener back on March 28 at the Stanford Invitational, his only 10,000-meter competition of the season. The time was 22 seconds under the NCAA automatic qualifying standard, shattered the Mountain West Conference record by 26 seconds and was nearly two seconds below the automatic qualifying time for the USA national meet. Gonzales was also a stunning NCAA automatic qualifier in the 1,500 after winning the race at the Midwest Regional in a time of 3:42.83, the fastest regional championship time in the nation. With another 10,000-meter competition looming just seven days later on June 19th at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, Gonzales said he was tempted to limit himself to the 1,500. However, with his No. 4 national ranking in the event and perhaps running the best he ever has over the past month, the opportunity to challenge for a national title was one that could not be passed up. While this is Gonzales' first appearance at the NCAA track championships, he has made back-to-back trips to the national cross country championship meet, and earned All-America honors with his 30th place finish. Gonzales also competed at the 2000 Division II national cross country meet and earned All-America honors by placing 37th as a true freshman at New Mexico Highlands University. Sari-Bentzur, meanwhile, was once again the leader of a young women's squad this spring. She has been a workhorse, competing in 34 events, including three heptathlon competitions since March 20. The Omer, Israel native surpassed the provisional qualifying heptathlon score in all three competitions this spring and recorded a season-high of 5,236 points at the Mt. SAC Relays on April 16-17. Ranked among the Trackwire.com "Dandy Dozen" for much of the season, Sari-Bentzur is currently No. 19 entering the NCAA meet. She placed fourth in her most recent heptathlon, at the Mountain West Conference Championships, with a final score of 5,170. The lone Lobo with Division I national track and field championship experience, Sari-Bentzur will close her steller UNM career with her second-straight appearance at the NCAA meet. NEW MEXICO OUTDOOR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS HISTORY The University of New Mexico will be appearing at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships for the second-straight year after a three-year hiatus. Last year, Keren Sari-Bentzur and Kelli Myers represented UNM in the heptathlon and high jump, respectively. Despite suffering a sprained ankle the week before competition, Sari-Bentzur placed ninth in the heptathlon with a score of 5,285, 36 points shy of eighth place and All-America honors. Myers, meanwhile, did not clear the starting bar height in the high jump. Matt Gonzales is the first member of the UNM men's team to compete at the national meet since hammer thrower Stephen Dunbar in 1998. Since 1930, New Mexico has had 32 individuals (24 men, 8 women) and four relay teams (2 men's, 2 women's) earn All-America laurels at the national outdoor championships. Lobo athletes have also captured eight outdoor national titles in that span, including six on the men's side. Tangi Galloway and Sara Nicholson were the last Lobo All-Americans in 1996. Galloway placed fourth in the 10,000 as a sophomore, while Nicholson, then a junior, was 12th in the javelin. UNM hasn't had a men's All-American since 1991, when pole vaulter Simon Arkell earned honors for the third-consecutive year. Susan Vigil captured the last outdoor national title for New Mexico, winning the 800 at the 1979 AIAW Championships. It's been 36 years since a member of the men's team won an outdoor national title. Art Baxter's victory in the triple jump in 1967 was the last gold medal for UNM. (The UNM men's two-mile relay team claimed the last indoor national title for the Lobos, winning the event at the 1983 championships.) New Mexico earned its best national finish in 1965 under head coach Hugh Hackett. Clarence Robinson swept the long and triple jump titles as the Lobos finished fifth with 25 points, just half a point out of fourth and seven points shy of the team title. New Mexico was also tied for fifth in 1967 with a score of 24 points. The UNM women have scored four times at the NCAA Championships (women competed under the AIAW organization until 1982), with a high finish of 33rd (5 points) in 1996. NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW This year's NCAA meet will feature an expanded field of 1,100 student-athletes - the result of a new system of regional qualifying meets - and making this year's event the largest NCAA Championship in history. The larger NCAA field means there will be non-stop competition for four days in Sacramento. The bulk of the finals will be held in the late afternoon and evening, accommodating both athletes and spectators. Since the NCAA made track and field its first national championship event in 1921, the list of individual champions reads like a who's who of track legends: Jesse Owens, Carl Lewis, Jackie Joyner, Al Oerter, Florence Griffith, Michael Johnson, Jim Ryun, Renaldo Nehemiah, Gail Devers and Tommie Smith, to name just a few world record-setters and Olympic champions. The NCAA track and field championships return to Northern California for the first time since 1968. From 1935-68, the NCAA meet visited Northern California on nine different occasions. The 1968 NCAA Championships, held at Edwards Stadium in Berkeley, crowned three winners who later that year won Olympic gold medals in Mexico City - Lee Evans of San Jose State in the 400 meters; Dave Hemery of Boston University in the 400 hurdles; and Dick Fosbury of Oregon State in the high jump. A fourth Mexico City winner, USC pole vaulter Bob Seagren, finished second in Berkeley. The 2000 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials in Sacramento attracted a record-setting 187,104 spectators over eight days of competition, and the sellout crowds were rewarded with one world record and two U.S. marks. The 2004 U.S. Olympic Track Trials were awarded to Sacramento, making California's capital just the second city to host successive Olympic Trials. LSU's men and South Carolina's women are the defending NCAA team champions, and both teams figure to be make strong stands in Sacramento. Another team contender is Stanford, the 2000 NCAA men's champion. The Cardinal has an outstanding strong group of middle- and long-distance runners, led by defending NCAA outdoor champions Don Sage (1,500 meters) and Lauren Fleshman (5,000 meters). At last year's NCAA Championships in Baton Rouge, La., the men's and women's team titles weren't decided until the last event on the final day, the 1,600-meter relay. Two of the top athletes to watch in Sacramento are South Carolina sophomore Lashinda Demus and Florida junior Rickey Harris. In Baton Rouge, Demus won the women's 400 hurdles in the world junior record time of 54.85 seconds. Demus also finished third in the 400-meter dash and ran a leg on South Carolina's winning 1,600 relay team.
Harris won the men's 400 hurdles in 48.16. That time made him
the third-fastest hurdler in collegiate history. Harris also finished
third in the flat 400.
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