CANYON, Texas – Two days of cooler, wet weather provided a unique start to the 2024 outdoor season at the West Texas A&M Spring Break Open.
It didn't feel like spring break, but Eastern New Mexico men's track and field posted some strong results at the first meet of the season.
"It was cold," remarked head coach
Joshua Harden when asked about the weather after the meet. "Anytime you have several delays with weather like this makes it tough to run fast times. The best thing is we got runs in."
One of the strongest groups at the competition in Canyon proved to be the throws. With outdoor season comes different events where a handful of Greyhounds found early season success.
During the only event Friday,
Hemon Joseph (35.55m) and
Kooper Ellis (33.18m) tossed the discus well.
Sophomore Noe Ybaben-Burciaga is continuing his stellar sophomore season start as he finished the shot put with a 13.46m toss. His teammate Ellis had a 10.48m result.
In another outdoor only event, Ellis shined in the hammer taking sixth with a 41.01m toss. After competing in three different events this weekend, he finished with top marks in all three events. Ybaben-Burciaga placed one spot below his teammate after a 40.70m finish in the hammer.
The other event the throws team specialized in featured four different ENMU student-athletes. Eastern was represented by
Hemon Joseph (53.54m),
Jude Murray (44.01m),
Devin Gallegos (41.59m), and
Jamoi Jackson (39.16m). Joseph was the runner-up in the event.
In another field event,
Luis Holguin cleared the 3.95m bar in the pole vault to finish tied for sixth.
On the track, Eastern New Mexico was represented in four different events.
Malachi Torres took 23rd in the 100m after clocking a 11.12s time. Two Hounds posted times in the 400m as
Tre Buchanan (50.24s) and
Jude Murray (51.75s) ran a strong lap to begin the season on a cold day in west Texas.
The distance crew was represented by
Bryce Owens (2:05.27s) in the 800m and
Ethan Woodrome (4:59.14) in the 1500m.
ENMU men's track and field will compete next week at a meet hosted by the University of Arizona.
