The UTEP track and field teams started their outdoor season on Saturday, March 21 at Kidd Field.
The Springtime Invitational is seen by participating teams as more of a warm up for the rest of the season. The invitational included several different universities and professional runners, and was a good way to kick off a promising outdoor season.
Despite the results not being crucial to the season or to the team’s individual or collective success, the Miners gave it their all. UTEP came away with 12 first-place finishes and got off on the right foot.
“Not bad,” said UTEP head coach Mika Laaksonen. “It was a good start.”
Several Miners took to the track for Saturday’s meet, including Cosmas Boit who is looking to follow up an impressive indoor season, in which he was crowned the Conference USA champion in the mile.
He finished invitational’s mile run in second place, but since the winner was a professional runner, it is a first-place victory for Boit according to NCAA rules. Boit also participated in the 1,500-meter run, in which he placed second.
Boit ran without running partner and C-USA Bowerman Watch List runner Anthony Rotich, who was given the day off since he has been out of town competing and training for the final stretch of his career as a Miner.
The Miner men also dominated the 800-meter run. The podium was all orange and blue after the race with Danny Tarango, Ramon Garcia and Esteban Montanez taking the top three spots. Tarango clocked in with a time of 1:55.39, Garcia was just behind him with 1:55.70 and Montanez rounded the event out with a time of 1:56.11.
Adding to UTEP’s successful day at home, junior Sven Zellner won a very close and exciting 110-meter hurdles. Zellner finished with a time of 14.53.
The men were not the only winners, as the women also had a successful day on the track. The women ended up in first place at Kidd Field more than five times.
Leading the efforts for the women’s track team were Aiyana Stiverne and Lilian Koech, who both ended their respective races in first place.
Stiverne ran three events and did well in all of them—she won the 400-meter dash race with a speedy time of 52.81.
The sophomore eclipsed her outdoor personal record of 56.86 and improved her overall personal best in th 400-meters by almost three quarters of a second.
“I thought about being aggressive, staying focused,” Stiverne said. “This felt really good, but I know I have a lot more in me.”
The women’s sprint relay team of Stiverne, Greta Kerekes, Anna-Kay James and Florence Uwakwe got to a fast start with a time that could very likely qualify the for regionals. The 45.27 seconds in which the ladies finished the race is faster than any of the times they before mid-April in last year’s season.
“The handoffs can always be better, but we’re starting off better than we did last year so I can’t complain,” Stiverne said. “The handoffs can always be better, but we’re starting off better than we did last year so I can’t complain.”
The women also had a good showing in the hurdles. The 100-meter hurdles saw three Miners place in the top four—two on the podium. Senior Ana Kay James finished in second, while teammate and indoor champion Greta Kerekes ended in third.
“There’s a lot of room for improvement,” James said. “I had my tunnel vision on. Now I just need to sprint. My technique is good, I just need to cut loose and run.”
UTEP had success in the field events too. Sophomore Samantha Hall won the discus throw for the Miner women with a toss of 52.81 meters.
Senior Taylor Gunn had a solid day throwing the discus and shot put. Gunn finished second in the shot put with a toss of 13.60 meters and added a fifth-place in the discus with a throw of 46.40 meters.
The men impressed with their performance in field events too. First-place finishes in javelin and high jump were big factors in the Miners’ success.
Freshman Rasmus Maukonen won first and junior Kevin Rincon was right behind him in the javelin. Maukoen out threw the competition by almost 10 meters with his dazzling 67.91-meter throw. The newcomer is still getting adjusted to the border and had a couple of faults, which in his eyes stained his performance a little.
“I feel great to have thrown well, but I could have thrown further if my two throws weren’t faults” Maukoen said. “The target is May and I’m hoping to be throwing over 75 meters by then.”
The Conference USA Outdoor Championships will take place in May and UTEP will host the meet. That is Maukonen’s focus and Laaksonen is confident he will only get better after this initial contest.
“It was the first meet and he was kind of lost early on,” Laaksonen said. “He has been practicing well and he will throw longer… probably even next week.”
Despite his ambition to improve, Maukonen was pleased and enjoyed the meet in his new home.
“It feels great to be competing at home, the atmosphere here is great and it’s good to compete in your own stadium like now,” Maukonen said.
Other Miners who enjoyed success on Saturday were senior Abiola Onokoya, who won the 200-meter dash, Carlos Hernandez had a first place in the high jump, senior Roberto Camacho finished second in the 400-meter hurdles, A-Shawni Mitchell had a second-place finish in the 400-meter dash, and Ada Benjamin, who took silver in the women’s 200-meter dash.
The Springtime Invitational was the first of four track meets UTEP will host in 2015, with the next one taking place in mid-April.
The Miners will be on the road for the next few weeks, traveling to Texas, California and Arizona before returning to host the UTEP Invitational on April 18. The team will be in Austin, from March 25-28 for the Texas Relays meet.
Juan Carlos Navarrete can be reached at [email protected].
