Junior sprinter Kandice Miles led the Eastern New Mexico women’s track and field team to a fifth place finish at the Lone Star Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Saturday, reaching the podium in three events and breaking two program records.
The ENMU women’s team scored 62 points, finishing nine points ahead of Dallas Baptist and just eight points back of Texas A&M-Kingsville in fourth. The men’s squad notched 22.5 points to come in ninth place.
Miles scored a pair of silver medals in the 200-meter and 100-meter dash finals. In the 200-meter event, Miles crossed the finish line for a second place time of 23.87, breaking her own program record by .08 seconds and setting an NCAA provisional qualifying mark.
In the 100-meter, Miles scampered across the finish line in 11.60 for another visit to the podium. The mark nearly set an ENMU record and an NCAA provisional qualifying mark, but was unfortunately negated by an illegal wind reading.
Miles was also a part of the women’s 4×100-meter relay team with Danee Bustos, Maijah Mathis, and Lateria Slaughter that earned the bronze with a third place time of 45.56. The mark broke their own Eastern record of 45.74 to also provisionally qualify for the NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships.
Reaching the podium twice, Mathis also turned in a third place time of 11.71 in the 100-meter dash. The junior sprinter just missed reaching the podium a third time as she came away with a fourth place finish in the 200-meter with a time of 24.16.
Senior distance runner Mercy Rotich earned the silver in the 5000-meter with a second place time of 18:21.26, earning her third track and field medal between the indoor and outdoor seasons. Rotich also put together a strong finish in the 1500-meter, coming in fourth with a time of 4:58.20.
On the men’s side, Ivar Moinat came away with a career-best individual finish in the LSC Championships, coming in second in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:52.07, beating out fellow All-American Jaylen Tryon from Lubbock Christian at the finish line by 0.17 seconds.
In his first outdoor championship, freshman Andrew Villegas crossed the finish line in 21.47 for a seventh place finish.
As the Greyhounds wrap up their first ever Lone Star Conference Track & Field Championship in Portales, N.M., Eastern will now turn its attention toward the West Texas A&M Last Chance on May 12 before potentially sending some athletes to the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships being held in Kingsville, Texas from May 23-25.
