Jansen, Chirchir Finish as 10K Runners-Up on Day One at MW Outdoor Championships
CLOVIS, Calif. – New Mexico Track & Field wrapped up its first night of competition at Mountain West Outdoor Track & Field Championships with four athletes advancing to their respective finals in track preliminary round competition before Nicola Jansen and Vincent Chirchir both scored the first points of the meet with a pair of runner-up finishes in the 10,000m.
After getting eight points each from Jansen and Chirchir, the UNM men are tied for fourth and the women are fifth upon the conclusion of Day One with three of 21 events complete.
Dylan Burrows and Matthew Larkin hung tight in the middle of the pack over the first lap and a half in the second heat of the Men’s 800m Prelims, but surged over the final 100 to finish 1-2 and secure two spots in Saturday’s Finals. Burrows (1:50.72) was the second-fastest finisher of the preliminary round and Larkin’s 1:51.06 time was fourth.
Entering the weekend ranked No. 1 and No. 6 in the conference, the duo will return for Saturday’s final at 8:25 p.m. MT.
After finishing short of the 200m finals at conference outdoor championships last year, Victor Akhalu became the third Lobo to advance with a third-place finish in his heat and 21.39 time, good for eighth overall. Akhalu will return to compete in the prelims for his best event – the 100m, in which he’s ranked No. 2 in the conference and holds the UNM outdoor record – tomorrow at 9 p.m. MT. Should he qualify for finals in the 100m, he’ll be racing in both finals on Saturday night.
True freshman Levente Soos became the fourth with the third-fastest time of the day in the 400m hurdles (52.13) behind the two heat winners from Air Force, Darek Hackett (51.54) and Cameron Breier (51.68). He’ll also compete again Saturday in the Finals at 8:45 p.m. MT.
In the Lobos’ first point-scoring opportunity of the night, Nicola Jansen had to duke it out the whole way with Colorado State’s Sarah Carter, who Jansen finished behind as runner-up at 2023 XC Championships before beating her at Mountain Regionals and at NCAA Championships in her next two races. The two pulled away from the pack early, with Jansen leading for the majority of the race until Carter outkicked her over the final 400 meters to take the title. Jansen crossed 11.10 seconds later to secure UNM’s first podium finish of the meet – and her first conference podium finish on the oval as a Lobo – as MW Runner-Up (34:11.80).
Closing out the night as UNM’s lone representative in a men’s 10,000m field without top-ranked Habtom Samuel or Evans Kiplagat, Vincent Chirchir found himself in a similar one-on-one battle with Air Force’s Luke Combs, with Chirchir holding off some pushes from Combs but eventually falling behind with two laps to go. He crossed in 29:10.71, as he and Combs both finished under the previous MWC Meet Record (29:24.87).
UP NEXT
Fabian Biondina opens up tomorrow’s competition in the Men’s Long Jump, set to get underway at 5 p.m. MT. Other events will include the Women’s Pole Vault (6:35 p.m.), the Women’s Long Jump (7:35 p.m.), the Women’s and Men’s 400m (7:50/8:15 p.m.), the Women’s and Men’s 100m (8:40/9 p.m.) and the Women’s 3,000m Steeplechase (9:20 p.m.). All of this weekend’s action will be broadcast via the MW Network, with live results and streaming for each day available at GoLobos.com/MWOTF. Follow @UNMLoboXCTF on Instagram and X for live coverage, meet day content and more.