FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — It was the largest group of New Mexico athletes to make indoor nationals in program history.
The results were just about as big.
Sammy Silva, Adam Bitchell and Allan Hamilton earned All-American status to pace the University of New Mexico track and field team to scoring performances at the 2015 NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Indoor Track and Field Championships.
Silva raced to sixth place in the women’s mile run, Bitchell took sixth in the 3000-meter run and Hamilton leaped to sixth in the men’s long jump on Friday to cap off the two-day meet at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville.
New Mexico, which qualified a program-record seven individuals and a relay team to this year’s NCAAs, finished tied for 31st on the men’s side and 46th on the women’s side. It’s the first time both the men and the women scored at a national meet since 2012.
Additionally, Silva, Bitchell and Hamilton will earn First-Team All-America honors from the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association for their performances.
It’s the first time UNM had at least one All-American on both side in three years.
Silva opened the strong performances on second day of the two-day championship with her superb showing in the mile run.
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The senior out of La Mesa, Calif., raced to a time of 4 minutes, 35.44 seconds to place sixth and become just the seventh female All-American indoors in program history.
Silva started off the finals in the top three, and settled in to the sixth spot with fewer than 800 meter remaining. She cruised through the finish line with the second-fastest time in New Mexico and Mountain West history.
Only her altitude-converted time of 4:33.48, which qualified her to the meet, is faster.
She is also the highest finisher for the New Mexico women at the national indoor meet since 2010, when Sandy Fortner was third in the pentathlon. Until Saturday, no female New Mexico track athlete placed top six at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Bitchell followed up his teammate with a sensational run in a highly competitive 3000-meter race.
Against a field that featured five Oregon Ducks gunning for an unprecedented four winners in the four distance events, Bitchell once again proved his status as a national-caliber distance runner en route to running a time of 8:02.72.
In his last collegiate race, Bitchell kept contact with a mostly compacted group for the first couple thousand meters, making a move into the top eight with about a kilometer to go. He parlayed a nice kick — which he used to capture the Mountain West title in the event last month — to move to sixth place
It’s the best finish for New Mexico in the event since 2010, when Rory Fraser matched that. And while Oregon did manage to claim the individuals titles in the mile, 3000, 5000 and distance medley relay, Bitchell ran to another top time in relative to UNM history.
The Aberystwyth, Wales, native owns four of the nine fastest times over 3000 meters in school history in spite of his expertise in the 5000.
However, the track athletes weren’t the only Lobos making history at the meet.
Hamilton, out of Edinburg, Scotland, jumped 25 feet, 4 ¾ inches in the long jump to place sixth on Friday. He entered the meet with a seed mark of 25-2 ¾ that ranked 16th out of the 16 entrants, and managed to nearly equal that mark in the preliminary round of jumps, leaping 25-1 ¼ on his second attempt.
After making the nine-athlete finals, he didn’t improve on his first two attempts in the finals. However, he uncorked his best leap on his last attempt to secure his sixth-place finish.
It’s the best finish in the event for the New Mexico — which has qualified an athlete to the NCAAs in the long jump each of the last four years — since Kendall Spencer won the event in 2012.
Hamilton also moves to fourth in school history and third in Mountain West history.
Friday also saw the women’s distance medley relay team place 10th in 11:17.98.
Originally reported as the 11th-place team (Villanova’s relay was disqualified after the conclusion of Friday’s events, moving UNM to 10th), the foursome of Tamara Armoush, Holly Van Grinsven, Sophie Connor and Alice Wright combined for the second-fastest DMR time in school history.
Silva, Van Grinsven, Connor and Calli Thackery ran the program record of 11:01.44 last month to qualify UNM to the NCAAs.
On Saturday, Thackery competed in the 3,000-meter run, placing 13th in 9:26.33.
In a scary moment, Thackery collapsed on the track just beyond the finish line after completing the race. Thackery was eventually taken off the track on a stretcher after overheating during her race, but recovered after the conclusion of the meet.
Elsewhere, Django Lovett battled through ankle issues to place 16th in the men’s high jump (clearance of 6-10 ¾), while Elmar Engholm (12th, 4:00.79) competed in the men’s mile prelims, and Ridge Jones (14th, 6.77) competed in the men’s 60 prelims.
Overall, New Mexico was the only Mountain West institution to score at the championship. The Lobo men finished with six points, the most since 2012, while the women finished with three, the most since 2010.
Oregon’s men repeated as champions, as the Ducks won with 74 points ahead of runner-up Florida (50 points) and third-place and host Arkansas (39).
The Arkansas women unseated defending champions Oregon 63-46.5 for the Razorback’s first women’s title, while Georgia placed third with 37 points.
The Lobos have concluded the indoor season and will open their three-month outdoor season next weekend at Arizona State.