Lobo Track & Field Adds Six Athletes for 2015-16 Season

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Under eighth-year head coach Joe Franklin, the University of New Mexico track and field program has added a talented group of student-athletes for the 2015-16 season as it aims to continue its run of success on the nation level.

After a 2014 season that saw the Lobos sweep the Mountain West men’s and women’s indoor title and earn the program’s first “Triple Crown” by winning the men’s conference titles in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track, the Lobos have signed six athletes for the 2015-16 season during the early signing period.

This year’s group of early signees includes Rhona Auckland from Torphins, Scotland; Albuquerque products Natasha Bernal and Mackenzie Everett; Scott Bajere from Bristol, England; Abby Smith from Westlake Village, Calif.; and Ryan Chase from Olympia, Wash.

“With this being the first year of an early signing period, we did a great job signing some great talent, both at the conference and national level,” UNM assistant coach and recruiting coordinator Austin Brobst said. “All of these student-athletes will contribute right away to help us defend our conference titles.”

New Mexico, less than a month removed from placing its women’s cross country team third at the NCAA Championships, has inked athletes in key positions for another postseason run in 2015.

From across the pond comes two future Lobos, including Scotland’s Auckland. A long-distance ace, Auckland already has impressive credentials, including a fifth-place showing in the 5,000-meter run at the 2014 British Athletics UK Championships and a third-place performance at the 2014 British Universities & Colleges Sport Cross Country Championships.

Rhona Auckland

“New Mexico seemed an obvious choice for me—great training facilities, altitude, good NCAA rankings and boasting a string of former Great Britain athletes who had improved under Joe’s wing,” Auckland said. “It also was a top uni for the master’s I hope to study.”

Currently a medical sciences student at Edinburgh University, Auckland also won the 10,000 at the 2013 BUCS Championship and the 3,000 at the 2013 Scottish University & College Championships. She has captured back-to-back cross country titles at the Scottish National Championships in 2013 and 2014.

Auckland also claimed seventh place at the 2013 European Cross Country Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, and recently qualified to the 2014 edition of the championships with current Lobo All-American Alice Wright.

“The thought of making an impact in America seems like quite an ambitious target, but a challenge I hope to rise to,” Auckland said. “… Hopefully I will be able to help the girl’s team maintain their impressive bronze from the nationals—or even better it.”

Her personal bests are 9 minutes, 29.28 seconds in the 3,000, 15:58.95 in the 5,000 and 33:09.58 in the 10,000.

“Rhona is a talented and a fierce competitor,” Brobst said. “We believe that she can help continue our tradition of excellence and make her mark as a New Mexico Lobo.”

Bernal and Everett, teammates at La Cueva High School, are superb distance runners for the Bears, helping propel La Cueva to the 2014 state cross country title.

Bernal won all eight of the cross country races in the state of New Mexico she ran during her senior year, including a six-second victory at the New Mexico 6A State Championships. She also claimed 12th place against some of the Southwest’s premier prep talent at the Nike Cross Nationals Southwest Regional in Casa Grande, Ariz., on Nov. 22.

She sports personal records of 2:18.56 in the 800 and 5:18.29 in the 1,600, and has run 17:45.90 over 5,000 meters in cross country.

Everett, the sister of former Lobo track athlete Matt Everett, owns similar times to her high school teammate, running 2:18.39 over 800 meters, 5:05.28 over 1,600 meters and 11:07.70 over 3,200 meters. She posted an impressive triple at the 2014 New Mexico 5A State Track & Field Championships, winning the 3,200, placing second in the 1,600 and claiming fourth in the 800.

She was most recently sixth at the 2014 New Mexico State Cross Country Championships for the Bears.

“We are excited to have two of the top talents from within the state of New Mexico attend UNM,” Brobst said. “Both Bernal and Everett will positively impact our nationally ranked program.”

The second British signee for the Lobos, Bajere, hails from Bedminster, England, a district of Bristol. A sprints specialist, he shined while in England. He claimed third place in the 60 at the 2014 Welsh Athletics Senior Championships and placed sixth in the 100 at the 2013 England Athletics U23 Championships before earning seventh in the 100 at the 2014 England Athletics U23 Championships.

He also seized second place in the 200, fourth place in the 60 and fourth place in the 100 at the 2013 BUCS Championships.

“Scott will be a great asset to the sprint group and will help round out the 4×100 team nicely,” Brobst said. “Scott has been training all fall and we look for him to come in and make an immediate impact during the indoor season and continue that success to the outdoor season.”

He owns lifetime bests of 6.84 in the 60, 10.55 (10.51 wind-assisted) in the 100 and 21.61 in the 200.

Smith is an accomplished sprinter at Westlake High School, winning a considerable number of races for the Warriors. She holds personal records of 11.73 in the 100 and 24.49 in the 200, and won every single race her junior year in 2014.

“We are very excited to have Abby join us,” Brobst said. “Abby fit in very well with the team on her visit, and right away UNM felt like home. On the track, Abby is a great competitor and we look for her to make an immediate impact on the conference level and eventually earn a spot at the national level.”

Smith swept both short sprints at the 2014 Pasadena Games and was ninth in the 100 at the 2013 CIF State Track and Field Championships. She also won the 100 and was runner up in the 200 at the 2012 CIF Southern Section Division 2 Prelims & Finals.

Chase commits to New Mexico as a burgeoning talent in the multi events for Capital High School in Olympia, Wash. He placed second in the decathlon at the 2014 USATF National Junior Olympic Track & Field Championships, a meet where he set a number of his personal bests. He also won the long jump for the Cougars at the 2014 Washington State meet.

“Ryan has a great build for a multi athlete,” Brobst said. “His desire to succeed will make him a conference threat in the multi.”

On the track, he carries lifetime bests of 11.39 in the 100, 15.83 in the 110 hurdles, 53.07 in the 400 and 4:59.42 in the 1,600. He also owns strong personal records in the field events, as well, including 22 feet, 11 ¾ inches in the long jump, 46-7 ¾ in the triple jump, 11-3 ¾ in the pole vault, 6 ¾ in the high jump, 159-9 in the javelin and 115-5 ½ in the discus.

This bunch, with the exception of Bajere, will arrive at UNM in the fall of 2015 along with a spring signing class that will be announced in spring 2015. Bajere will make his Lobo debut during the 2015 track & field campaign, which starts in January for New Mexico as they open at the Air Force Open on Jan. 10.