INDIANAPOLIS — The University of New Mexico track and field team qualified 22 individuals and a relay team to the 2015 NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Preliminary Championships competition, the national selection committee announced Thursday.
The Lobos will send 11 men, 11 women and a men’s relay team to the NCAA West Preliminary championships at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas, next week with the goal of placing in the top 12 of their respective events.
A top-12 finish at the preliminary rounds — which are split between the West region in Austin and the East region in Jacksonville, Fla. — advances a competitor to next month’s NCAA Championships in Eugene, Ore.
Qualification to the preliminary championships competition is based on the descending-order list for the season, segregated by east and west sites. For each individual event contested at each of the prelim competitions, the top 48 declared student-athletes will be accepted.
On the men’s side, 11 Lobos and a relay will compete in Austin, with Allan Hamilton leading the pack in two events.
Hamilton, the Mountain West champion in the long jump and triple jump, has qualified in both events. He is seeded ninth in the long jump and 27th in the triple jump.
Also qualifying in the jumps are Logan Pflibsen in the pole vault (seeded 17th), Yannick Roggatz in the long jump (32nd) and Django Lovett in the high jump (seeded 44th). Michael Ellis (43rd) and Beau Clafton (48th) made the prelims in the javelin throw.
Five men qualified in the track events, with Peter Callahan and Elmar Engholm in the 1500-meter run (seeded fifth and 12th, respectively), Alex Herring in the 800 (18th), Matt Bergin in the 5000 (28th) and Julian Florez in the 10,000 (36th).
Rounding out the men’s qualifiers is the 4×100 meter relay team of Hamilton, Ridge Jones, Carlos Wiggins and Scott Bajere. The squad is seeded 21st.
For the women, 11 individuals have accepted bids to compete at the prelim meet.
Alice Wright and Calli Thackery are the two highest-seeded Lobos, with Wright seeded third in the 10,000 and Thackery seeded seventh in the 5000. Jannell Hadnot is also seeded high, ranking ninth in the triple jump.
Elsewhere, Sophie Connor (24th), Tamara Armoush (32nd) and Amber Zimmerman (39th) have all qualified in the 1500, while Nicola Hood (26th), Zimmerman (34th) and Nicole Roberts (39th) will run the 3000-meter steeplechase.
Rounding out the Lobos’ qualifiers are Holly Van Grinsven in the 100 hurdles (23rd), Heleene Tambet in the 10,000 (39th) and Casey Dowling in the long jump (48th).
The 23 qualifiers (individuals plus relays) continues a trend of large groups advancing to the preliminary competition. Since the NCAA reconfigured its preliminary rounds into two regions in 2010, New Mexico has yet to qualify fewer than 18 athletes.
Last year, the Lobos qualified 26 athletes, three off the high of 29 in 2011.
Four of the last five years, including the last three, New Mexico has advanced at least six athletes from the NCAA West Preliminary round to the NCAA Championships. Eight Lobos made the NCAA finals last year.
The three-day preliminary round starts May 28 and runs through May 30.