ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (UNLVrebels.com) – After recording several personal-best performances in the first day of the New Mexico Collegiate Classic on Friday, the UNLV track & field team made their way out to the Albuquerque Convention Center again on Saturday for the second and final day of the event. The Rebels rewrote the school record book on day two of the meet, as well as setting more personal records to cap the weekend.
 
Natalia Ruiz tore down a 25-year-old UNLV record in the women's mile, jumping to the no. 1 all-time spot on a 4:52.58 final time. The race topped her performance at the 2022 Mountain West Indoor Championships, dropping over a second to beat the previous school record by .7 seconds. She wasn't the only member of the Scarlet & Gray to find success in the event, senior Isabella Schrader also marking a new personal record that she originally set back in December of 2023.
 
The Rebels also picked up a win through the women's unseeded 60m, Shakeira Bowra following up an impressive performance on day one with a victory in the event on day two. The junior picked up the win by .03 seconds, clocking in a new personal best time that was set almost a year ago. 
 
UNLV found one more personal record in the Collegiate Classic, Delaysia Allen beating her time set two weeks ago in the women's 60m hurdles. The Pasadena, Calif., native picked up her new mark by .01 seconds.
 
The Scarlet & Gray will head back to Las Vegas for a short stay before heading out to their next meet, competing in the Jarvis Scott Open at Texas Tech University. The team will kick off competition in Lubbock, Texas on Friday, Feb. 9 and run through Saturday, Feb. 10.


DAY ONE
The UNLV track & field team kicked off the first day of the New Mexico Collegiate Classic on Friday morning, hosted by the University of New Mexico. The Scarlet & Gray picked up a win throughout the competitive field as well as a slew of personal records to go along with it.
 
Junior Natalia Ruiz emerged victorious in the women's 3000m, clocking in a final time of 10:05.38 in the event. The race marked Ruiz's first win of the season, her second time running the event during the 2023-24 indoor season.
 
Kennedi Porter registered a top-three finish of her own, picking up the bronze medal in the women's unseeded 200m. Her time of 23.68 was finalized as a personal-best mark, the junior topping her 2023 Mountain West Indoor Championships performance by almost .1 seconds. UNLV featured five other student-athletes in the event that earned personal-best marks, including Jaydea Carter, Kaelin Gowdy, Shakeira Bowra, Delaysia Allen and Sophia Alexander.
 
A pair of Rebels made their way into the top 10 of the women's high jump, Grace Cunningham and Erin Thompson reaching seventh and eighth in the event, respectively. Cunningham's 1.71m (5-7.25) height is her highest mark as a Rebel since arriving on campus this fall, topping her performance at the Spokane Showcase earlier this season. Thompson's final height was just behind her at 1.66m (5-5.25), tying with two other student-athletes at that eighth-place spot.
 
The Scarlet & Gray found a handful of other personal-best marks in the first day of competition in both the track lanes and in the field events. Camryn Harris achieved her personal-best distance by .2 meters in the women's long jump while Gowdy found a second personal record on the day coming in the women's 400m, dropping two seconds of her previous top time from the Lumberjack Team Challenge just two weeks ago.
 
UNLV will have one more day of competition at the New Mexico Collegiate Challenge, the meet capping on Saturday afternoon (Saturday, Feb. 3). The women's events are set to start at 9:30 a.m. PT with the first three flights of the women's shot put before the women's unseeded 60m kicks off at 9:45 a.m. PT. You can catch updates on all things UNLV track & field through the team's X (formerly known as Twitter) and Instagram accounts, as well as UNLVrebels.com.