Complete Results
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Loren Ahonen won the 3,000-meter run in eight minutes, 37.29 seconds, and Ryan Walstrom threw 57 feet, 8 1/2 inches to provisionally qualify in the weight throw to highlight Western State performances in the second day of the New Mexico Classic today in the Albuquerque Convention Center.
Ahonen beat 36 other runners, including seven Division I runners, to take the event by a more than two-second margin. Sean Brown and Cordell Baker also finished in the top 10 of the event.
Walstrom improved on his career-best and finished fifth in the weight throw among 28 throwers. He unofficially stands No. 24 in Division II performance lists. He also finished third among Division II athletes in the shot put with 50-8 1/4.
Reger Craigo was the top Division II sprinter in the 60 and 200-meter dashes and lowered his 200-meter time by nearly two-tenths of a second to 22.01. He also clocked 7.16 in the 60 meters to finish No. 19 in the preliminaries.
The Mountaineer women finished with the top Division II performance in the 3,000-meter run when Lauren Kleppin placed third among collegiate runners with 10:21.53. Annika Haughwout and Emily Kirchhofer also finished No. 12 and No. 13 overall, respectively.
Akil Gipson placed sixth overall in the men's triple jump with 44-6 1/4, edging out teammate Najji Mayberry's 43-11 1/4. Gipson also represented the Mountaineers in the high jump with 6-4 1/4.
Rachel Webb continued the women's success in the distance events with a seventh-place finish in the 800-meter run among 39 runners. Sarah Lyle also recorded a top-10 finish for the Mountaineers in the mile run with 5:15.02.
Webb also ran the anchor leg of Western State's 4x400-meter relay team and finished ninth along with Domini Mayberry, Katie Kielian and Hillory Davis. The Mountaineers clocked 4:05.45 and defeated three Division I teams in the process.
The men's 4x400-meter teams rounded out the top-10 performances for the Mountaineers. Devin Myers, Jerrett Swarr, Nathan Dorzweiler and Andy Crook finished seventh in 3:24.32 and placed two positions ahead of Nick Forrest, Cree Clark, Matt Hill and Craigo.
Up Next: The Mountaineers will split squads this weekend, with the distance runners traveling to the Grand Valley State Laker Qualifier in Allendale, Mich. The rest of the team will head to the Air Force Invitational. Both meets will take place Feb. 12-13.