NMHU with three event wins, 10 collegiate bests at outdoor opener at West Texas A&M

CANYON, Texas --- New Mexico Highlands University Women's Track and Field won three events and had 10 athletes set new personal best at the West Texas Spring Break Classic. The meet in Canyon, Texas, was the outdoor season-opener for the Cowgirl squad. 

NMHU throws standout Katy Scott opened her outdoor campaign the way she ended indoor-- launching the hammer  over 173 feet (52.86m) to win the event and post an NCAA championships qualifying mark and sits atop the conference performance list.

Sophomore Faith Lovato picked up her first collegiate victory with a 12 second collegiate best (4:47.17) to take down the field in the 1,500. 

The Cowgirls finished the meet with a victory in the 4x400 for their third win of the day. The squad of Hilary Udechekwu, Faith Jebet, Selisa Palmer and Kaitlyn Holl battled host West Texas A&M until the final stretch, with Holl holding off the WT anchor for the win.

"The team knows I love the 4x4", said HU head coach Bob DeVries. "Winning the relay is a great end to any meet. I'm proud of how they battled."

In addition to the event wins, the NMHU women came up with no less than 10 collegiate best/personal records in Canyon.

Angelina Oliver started things off in the day's first event - a 1.60 (5'-3") clearance in the high jump that moved her to No. 2 on the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference performance list.

Also moving into the RMAC top five on Saturday were:
Chisom Obioha - LJ (18-7 1/4)
Selisa Palmer- 400 (58.01)
Holl - LJ (17-9 1/2)
Alissa Martinez- SP (40' 5")

Jewels Leslie set a big college best to finish second in the 5,000. The freshman from Wingate HS (NM) chopped over 30 seconds from her previous best - running 19:25 for the 3.1 mile distance.

More PR's/CB were set by:
Holl - 100 (13.00)
Udechekwu - 200 (25.51)
Jackie Gamez - 800 (2:36)
Abigail Serna - 800 (2:56)
Faith Jebet - 400 (1:03)

"I can't say enough about our coaches - coach Dunbar, coach Hawkins and coach Russell did an outstanding job getting our athletes ready for this weekend," DeVries said. "I challenged the team after a somewhat disappointing finish to the indoor season to put in the work and they responded."

The Cowgirls will compete next week in Pueblo, Colorado, at the Spank Blasing Open hosted by CSU Pueblo.

Complete results available at:
https://www.tfrrs.org/results/72847/4426889/WT_Spring_Break_Classic/100_Meters/