Albuquerque, N.M. – Endurance Abinuwa takes her second consecutive crown at the Cherry and Silver Invitational at the Albuquerque Convention Center.

“Today she took first in the 60m and ran a strong leg in the 4x400m relay,” said assistant coach Scott Roberts. “We are very pleased with her performance and she should be ready for the conference meet in a couple of weeks.”

The Nigerian native, took first-place in the women’s 60m dash registering a time of 7.44. Abinuwa also led the women’s 4x400m relay team to a second-place finish posting a time of 3:47.21 (Janice Jackson, Abinuwa, Kitria Stewart and Yolanda Suggs).

“The relay was definitely a photo finish,” said Roberts. “It was better then last week and we hope to continue improving.”

Also highlighting the women’s squad is All-American Risper Kimaiyo in the 3,000m run as she finished first clocking in a time of 9:47.09. This is the seniors second top-five finish this season.

Leading the women’s hurdle team is the sophomore transfer from Clemson, Janice Jackson, who took silver in the 60m hurdles recording a time of 8.46. While teammate Marine Menez clocked in a time of 8.82 to take 13th overall.

Senior Kitria Stewart was the women’s top finisher in the 600m run as she crossed the finish line with a time of 1:35.82. Following closely behind was sophomore Jackline Ekai with a time of 1:36.36.

On the men’s side junior Elkana Rotich had two silver finishes in the mile run and the 3,000m run. The Kenyan native clocked in a season-best of 4:13.44 in the men’s mile run and posted a time of 8:40.92 in the 3,000m. This is Rotich third second-place finish this season.

Crossing the finish line behind Rotich is Justice Chirchir, as he took third-place in the men’s 3,000m with a time of 8:41.60. The senior also participated in the mile, clocking in a time of 4:16.71, while Juan Blanco registered a time of 4:21.16.

Meanwhile, the men’s relay team captured first-place in the 4x400m relay with a season-best time of 3:16.31 (Suji Adeniyan, A-Shawni Mitchell, Shane Hamm, Curtis Kock).

Representing UTEP in the men’s 400m dash was Kock with a fourth-place finish (48.43), Mitchell finishing ninth (48.97) and Hamm taking 15th overall (49.59).

On the field, El Paso native Matt Dudley took fifth-place in the shot put with a mark of 16.37m (53-08.50).

The Miners will return to action on Saturday, Feb. 3 at the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational in Lincoln, Nebr.

Courtesy UTEP Athletics