Chaps challenge stacked field at New Mexico College Classic
ALBUQUERQUE, NM – A total of 1,640 athletes will descend on the ABQ Convention Center this weekend when the chaps return to the land of enchantment for the New Mexico College Classic beginning Friday, February 3rd.
Multiple Division I and Division II schools will participate in the event at the 2023 NCAA DI Indoor Championships venue. The Chaps have experience with the building as it is their third straight week of attending at the University of New Mexico.
For the third straight week, Spencer broke his own school record in weight throwing, last week’s 18.96 meters at the UNM Open. This mark breaks his old school record by 0.14 meters and puts Spencer at 15th in the overall Division II indoor track and field at the event. Spencer finished fifth in the event, beating pitchers from Cal, Grand Canyon and Eastern New Mexico.
His counterpoint on the women’s side, Abigail JonesShe broke her own weight throw record by 1.67 meters and finished 18thth with a throw of 15.00 meters. Her second throw of 14.54 meters would also have broken the school record. Jones also finished third in her flight, ahead of pitchers from CSU Bakersfield, New Mexico State, UNLV, UC Irvine and Eastern New Mexico.
Meanwhile in Lubbock last week, Cayden Butler finished sixth in the high jump and jumped 2.05 meters on his second jump at this mark. This mark is just 0.02 meters away from breaking Butler’s school record. The mark is also a provisional NCAA mark, the 26thth best clearance in the entire Division-II. Butler beat other jumpers from No. 22 Ohio State and No. 4 West Texas A&M, along with Division I competitors from Auburn, Air Force and Indiana. It’s Butler’s third consecutive top 10 finish at the event.
Kevin Washington finished ninth overall and first in his flight with a jump of 14.65 meters in the triple jump. The top 10 finish is Washington’s 14thth straight top 10 finish overall at the event and his fifth consecutive top 10 finish at the event during the indoor season. Washington beat out competitors from No. 10 Nebraska, along with Division I jumpers from Arizona, Air Force and Boise State. Washington goes into the weekend with the 21st best grade in D-II.
In the men’s 4×400 meter relay, the team from Chris Rader, Keitron Boyd, Ryan Gordon and George GarcÃa finished 10th in the event with an NCAA provisional time of 3:15.87. This time is 15th overall in Division-II. Garcia also holds the 21st fastest time in the 400m after breaking the school record at the Corky Classic earlier this year.
joy Egwu was just 0.03 seconds from breaking her school record in the 60-meter dash for the third straight week at the UNM Open, finishing 20thth with a time of 7.77 seconds. Egwu finished second in her run, beating runners from UNLV, UC Irvine, and New Mexico.
The promotion starts on Friday at 10:00 a.m. CET and on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. CET. Fans can pay for a FloTrack subscription to follow the action online here. Fans can also follow live scores here for free.
