The UTEP track and field team heads into the final regular season meet of the year on Saturday at the Desert Heat Classic in Tucson, Arizona.
The Miners will face some tough competition, going head-to-head against Arizona, Arizona State, Grand Canyon, NM State, Northern Arizona, San Diego State, Oregon, Utah and Cal State Northridge.
The meet will kick off on the field with the men’s hammer at 2:30 p.m. MT, which will feature Benjamin Coronado. Earlier in the year, the sophomore posted a personal-best mark of 49.11m in the hammer throw at the UTEP Springtime. The El Paso native will be in the first flight of the competition.
Coronado will also take the field in the discus (5 p.m.) and shot put (9 p.m.).
Teammate Iason Machairas will look to continue his success in the shot put. The freshman registered a collegiate-best mark of 18.45m last week at the Bryan Clay Invitational. He currently ranks 41st nationally and first in C-USA.
Also highlighting the field events is freshman Chantoba Bright. The jumper will take the runway in the long jump at 5 p.m. Bright heads into the meet ranked 22nd nationally and second in conference with a leap of 6.30m that was posted in the Miners’ home opener.
The running events will begin at 6:30 p.m. with the women’s 100m hurdles, which feature Miners Maribel Caicedo, Rebecca Oshinbanjo and Carshaylah Harrison. The men’s 110m hurdles will follow at 6:45 p.m. and will include Shakeem Smith and David Rivera.
Smith currently rates ninth in C-USA with a season-best time of 14.45 that was notched at the Texas A&M Invitational.
Also taking the track for the men is Sean Bailey in the 400m, which is set to start at 8:25 p.m. The junior has made his presence known on the track this season, posting four top-two finishes. Last week, Bailey set the bar higher by clocking in a personal-best time of 46.04 in the 400m.
The sprinter is ranked 23rd nationally and first in C-USA in the event.
On the mid-distance side, Carolyne Chepkosgei, Andrea Lucero and Destiny White will take the track in the 800m at 9 p.m. Chepkosgei leads the group, ranking fourth in C-USA with a personal-best time of 2:09.19 that was recorded at Texas Relays.
The women’s 4x400m relay will wrap up the one-day meet at approximately 10:32 p.m.
