Feb. 14, 2015
RESULTS
Albuquerque, N.M. – The Miners wrapped up their indoor regular season Saturday afternoon at the Don Kirby Invitational. UTEP had seven athletes set new personal bests on the final day of the meet.
“I think we almost got we wanted from this meet. Our approach to this meet was that we were not going to double or triple anybody (compete in multiple events),” UTEP head coach Mika Laaksonen said. “We wanted to put everybody in one event and have them go at it. I think it went really well and we avoided any injuries.”
“The ladies, again, had a great meet; they looked rock solid and are going to be tough to beat at conference. The men have quite a bit of work left if they want to repeat as conference champs.”
Aiyanna Stiverne completed her 400m dash in 53.53 seconds to take second place in her heat. The sophomore’s time ranks third on the all-time 400m dash list in program history; her new personal best is top-20 in the country and no. 1 in Conference USA.
Nickevea Wilson notched a second-place finish in the triple jump; the senior recorded a mark of 12.86m (42-2.25).
Taylor Gunn followed up yesterday’s performance with a new personal best. The senior notched a throw of 14.31m (46-11.5) in the shot put. That throw ranks sixth in program history. Fellow thrower Samantha Hall also set a new personal best in the shot put with a throw of 12.97m (42-6.75).
A trio of Miners set new personal bests in the short sprints. Bria Love ran an 8.54 mark in the 60m hurdles (4th in C-USA). Zachary Newman Jr. (7.10) and Arien Hardin (7.81) registered their personal bests in the 60m dash.
Defending C-USA pentathlon champion, Jallycia Pearson, set her new personal best in the 800m run. The senior registered a time of 2:19.81.
Darius Mitchell (6.85) and Isak Washington (6.93) clocked the two fastest times in the 60m dash for the Miners. Greta Kerekes finished 11th overall in the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.47.
The duo of Abiola Onakoya (47.80) and A-Shawni Mitchell (48.17) finished seventh and ninth respectively out of Division I runners in the 400m dash.
UTEP will now have a week and a half to prep for the C-USA Indoor Championships. They will be held in Birmingham, Ala., at the Birmingham Crossplex from Feb. 25-26.
