STANFORD, Calif. — Saturday’s Payton Jordan Invitational, in the past, was a Sunday meet, but was moved up this year.
Also moving up on Saturday were the Lobos’ distance standouts.
The University of New Mexico’s track and field team received strong performances from its top distances runners at the Payton Jordan Invitational, including outstanding races in the 1,500- and 5,000-meter runs.
The Lobos harriers claimed a handful of personal and seasonal bests at Cobb Track and Angell Field, and also made strides in the national rankings with the national championships starting in late May with the NCAA West Preliminary Championship.
As New Mexico gets progressively closer to the postseason — which kicks off in two weeks with the Mountain West Outdoor Championships — the Lobos’ distance runners needed to make their bid for the NCAAs.
And, after Saturday’s performances, the trending Lobos all but secured berths for a number of athletes.
The top 48 athletes in each event in the NCAA’s West Region advance to the NCAA West Preliminary Championship, which is the qualifying meet for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in June.
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| Elmar Engholm |
Headlining the charge for New Mexico was the team’s 1,500-meter runs, including a white-hot Calli Thackery.
Thackery, who two weeks ago ran to the second-fastest 5K time in UNM history, just missed another school record this weekend in the metric mile.
She clocked a sizzling time of 4 minutes, 15.41 seconds in the 1,500, good for a six-second personal best and second in the race. She also moves to fifth in MW history.
However, Thackery wasn’t alone in running fast Saturday.
Sophie Connor set a new collegiate best in the 1500 with a time of 4:21.14 that placed fifth in her section, while Tamara Armoush raced to a new lifetime best in the metric mile, running 4:22.85 to place fourth in her section.
Amber Zimmerman was sixth in her section with a time of 4:24.29.
On the men’s side, the Lobos received a pair of sectional wins, with Peter Callahan running 3:40.37 and Elmar Engholm running 3:42.26.
For Engholm, his time lowered his personal best by over two seconds, while also moving him to eighth in school history.
Ross Matheson took 11th (time of 3:56.47) in the same section as Engholm.
Elsewhere, Alice Wright ran to third-fastest 5000 time in program history (behind Thackery and All-American Sarah Waldron), clocking a time of 15:45.87. She was eighth in the competitive section, and finished as the third-best collegian.
Heleene Tambet ran 16:48.33 in her 5K section.
For the men, Matt Bergin scooted to a superb time of 13:54.31 in the 5000, meriting a win in his section. Julian Florez was in the same section and finished 14th in 14:23.20.
Rounding out the Lobos competing was Alex Herring in the men’s 800 (sixth place, time of 1:51.82), and the duo of Nicola Hood and Nicole Roberts in the 3000 steeplechase.
Hood was 11th in their section with a time of 10:27.87, while Roberts notched a season-best time of 10:31.09 for 13th.
The Lobos will take the next week off to prepare for the MW Championships in San Diego on May 13-16.