Epic 2010 Indoor Track Season Starts On Saturday

Epic 2010 Indoor Track Season Starts On Saturday


NEXT WEEK: Lobos welcome powerful collegiate field for Jan. 23 Cherry & Silver Invitational Share DeliciousDiggFacebookGoogleMySpaceTwitterYahoo





2008 MWC pentathlon champion and NCAA qualifier Sandy Fortner returns to action on Saturday after redshirting all of 2009.





Jan. 14, 2010



UPCOMING
The most ambitious indoor track and field season in New Mexico history gets underway on Saturday when the University of New Mexico hosts the Lobo Opener at the Convention Center in downtown Albuquerque. Saturday's event will be the first of six UNM home meets, including the Mountain West Conference Championships, and 13 total events held this winter at the Duke City's world class indoor facility. The Albuquerque Convention Center will also be the home of the 2010 USA Indoor Track & Field Championships (Feb. 27-28), the NCAA Division II Championships (March 12-13), and five Saturday night high school meets (Jan. 16-Feb. 21).
The field events begin at 9 a.m., followed by the first race on the track at 10:45 a.m. Admission is $5 at the door for adults, $3 for kids ages 4 to 18, and free for UNM students (with a valid Lobo ID) and children age 3 and under.

In just three years of action, the indoor track and field facility at the Albuquerque Convention Center has earned a well-deserved reputation as one of the premier venues in the America. This winter, track and field fans can expect to see some of the brightest talents in the country and the world competing in the Duke City each weekend. Saturday's Lobo Opener will be no exception with a remarkable group of professional and postcollegiate athletes among the field, including former Oregon great and USA 10,000-meter champion Galen Rupp, 2008 Olympic 100 and 200 finalist Churandy Martina, and regining USA 1,500m champion and World Championship bronze medalist Shannon Rowbury.

Third-year UNM head coach Joe Franklin has entered a group of mostly young Lobo athletes in Saturday's meet, which also features collegiate competitors from Adams State, New Mexico State and New Mexico Highlands.

New Mexico's multi-event standout Sandy Fortner (long jump, 200m, 60m hurdles) will lead the Lobo contingent in her first meet back from indoor and outdoor redshirt seasons in 2009. The senior from Fort Sumner, N.M. captured MWC pentathlon (indoor) and heptathlon (outdoor) titles and qualified for the NCAA Championships in both competitions in 2008. New Mexico freshman Ty Kirk, the leading receiver for the Lobo football team this past fall, will make his indoor track debut (triple jump, 60m) after earning all-MWC honors in the triple jump outdoors last spring.







LOBO OPENER MEET INFORMATION/RESULTS
COLLEGE TEAMS (5): Adams State (Division II), New Mexico, New Mexico Highlands (Division II - women only), New Mexico State (women only)
NOTABLE PROFESSIONAL/UNATTACHED ATHLETES: The opening meet of the 2010 indoor season in downtown Albuqeurque will have no shortage of star power with several Olympic or World Championship medalists, USA champions and former collegiate All-Americans dotting the entry list.

Darren Brown (men's mile) - Former Texas All-American

Halimat Ismaila (women's 60m & 200m) - Member of Nigeria's bronze medal 4x100 relay team at the 2008 Beijing Olympics

Churandy Martina (men's 60m) - Dubbed "The Fastest Sprinter in the Dutch Kingdom"...fourth in the 100m at the Beijing Olympics and crossed the line second in the 200m, but was later disqualified for a controversial lane violation

Kyle Miller (men's mile) - Former Texas All-American

Treniere Moser (women's mile) - Three time USA 1,500 champion

Amber Plowden (women's 60m) - Fifth at the 2007 USA Indoor Championships

Shannon Rowbury (women's mile) - Reigning USA 1,500m champion and bronze medalist at the 2009 World Championships...member of the 2008 U.S. Olympic team.

Galen Rupp (men's 3,000m & 800m) - One of the greatest distance runners in University of Oregon history, finished his collegiate career with five individual NCAA titles and won the 2009 Bowerman Award - college track & field's version of the Heisman Trophy...reigning USA 10,000m champion

RESULTS: Event-by-event results will be posted on the bulletin board near the finish line corner of the facility, near the timing table. Complete HTML results will be available on www.GoLobos.com immediately following the meet.