7 Lobos named to Mountain West's 25th anniversary outdoor track and field teams
May 7—Seven New Mexico outdoor track and field athletes are among the best ever to compete in the Mountain West Conference.
Four Lobo women — Alice Wright, Courtney Frerichs, Weini Kelati and Ednah Kurgat — and three Lobo men — Lee Emmanuel, Josh Kerr and Kendall Spencer — earned spots on the Mountain West's 25th anniversary women's and men's outdoor track and field teams. Each team is comprised of 25 players from the 11 Mountain West schools.
Here's what to know about each Lobo track star:
Alice Wright (2014-18): In 2015, Wright won the 10,000-meter Mountain West championship, going on to finish as NCAA runner-up in that event in back-to-back years and finishing in the top eight nationally all four years. In 2017, she finished first in the Mountain West 5,000-meter race.
Courtney Frerichs (2016): A transfer from Missouri-Kansas City, Frerichs put together one of the most dominant single-season efforts in UNM history. She holds the UNM women's 3,000-meter steeplechase record when she won the NCAA Championship. Frerichs also took second in the 1,500-meters at the Mountain West Championships. After finishing her career with four of the top 10 steeplechase times in NCAA history between her time at New Mexico and UMKC, Frerichs was a semifinalist for the Bowerman Award and was named Mountain West Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Mountain West Athlete of the Year and was nominated for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award.
Weini Kelati (2018-20): Kelati holds UNM's indoor program records in the mile, 3,000 meters and 5,000 meters. In her final season of outdoor competition in 2019, Kelati was an NCAA champion in the 10,000 meters and finished fifth in the 5,000 meters and was also named the USTFCCCA Mountain Region Women's Track Athlete of the Year. In 2020, she ran the fourth-fastest time in collegiate indoor history in the 5000 meters at the Boston University Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener and was named Mountain West Women's Indoor Track and Field Student-Athlete of the Year. Kelati finished her career at UNM with 13 All-American honors.
Ednah Kurgat (2017-20): Kurgat finished fourth in the 5,000-meter final at the NCAA Indoor Championships in 2019 to earn first team All-America, also finishing in ninth place in the 3,000-meter final for a second team all-America honor. Kurgat still holds the program record in the outdoor 5,000 meters. In 2018, she won the 3,000-meter race at the MWC Championships and also competed in the 5,000-meter and 3,000-meter races at the NCAA Championships, placing second and eighth, respectively.
Lee Emmanuel (2009-10): A former walk-on, Emmanuel defended his NCAA indoor mile crown in 2010 to become the first Lobo to win consecutive titles. Emmanuel was named MWC Indoor Athlete of the Year that season after winning the 800-meter and the mile and finished sixth in the 1,500-meters at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Josh Kerr (2016-18): In 2017, Kerr won the mile and helped anchor the Lobos' distance medley relay team to a victory at the Mountain West Championships. He then went on to win the NCAA indoor mile crown In 2018, he again won the NCAA indoor mile. His 3:35.01 time in the 1,500-meters, set in April 2018, remains the fastest in UNM outdoor history.
Kendall Spencer (2010-14): Spencer won two Mountain West titles titles in the long jump. Also, in his final season of outdoor competition in 2014, Spencer took second in the long jump and third in the 4-by-100 at the Mountain West Outdoor Championships.
