AUSTIN, Texas — Three days in Austin, four Lobos to Eugene.
Three University of New Mexico track and field athletes qualified to the NCAA Championships Saturday as the Lobos finished with four total qualifiers at the 2015 NCAA West Preliminary competition this weekend.
At Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Peter Callahan, Logan Pflibsen and Calli Thackery all punched their tickets to next month’s NCAA Championships in Eugene, Ore., on Saturday, joining Alice Wright, who qualified Thursday.
It’s the ninth-straight year New Mexico has qualified at least four athletes to the NCAA Championships.
Pflibsen opened the third day of the three-day meet with a personal-record performance in the men’s pole vault.
The senior out of Streator, Ill., cleared 17 feet, 6 ½ inches to place fifth overall out of the 48 competitors and secure his bid to nationals. The top 12 finishers in each event qualify to the NCAA finals.
For Pflibsen, his new lifetime best ranks fourth in New Mexico history and makes him the first Lobo to make the NCAA finals in the pole vault since Robert Caldwell in 2008.
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| Calli Thackery |
Only three athletes — Pflibsen, Caldwell and Derek Mackel — have made the event in the last 24 years. Joe Powdrell (1967) and Simon Arkell (1987, 1989, 1990, 1991) are the only other UNM athletes to accomplish the feat.
Callahan also scored a berth to the NCAAs, nabbing his second-straight bid in the 1500-meter run. The senior out of Evanston, Ill., won his heat on a furious kick, placing second overall with a time of 3 minutes, 42.93 seconds.
The 2014 All-American and fourth-place finisher in the 1500 at the NCAA finals will get a chance to improve in Eugene. He is just the second New Mexico runner to make the national championships in the 1500 in back-to-back years, along with All-American Lee Emanuel.
Thackery was the final Lobo qualifier from the final day of the meet, as she battled to a fourth-place finish in a very competitive women’s 5000.
The junior from Yorkshire, England, finished the 12.5-lap race in 15:53.26 and held her own against some of the premier distance runners in the NCAA.
She is the first female runner to make the national meet in the 5000 since Kelly Dix in 1994.
However, this trio represented just three-quarters of the Lobos who advanced during the three-day meet.
From Thursday, Alice Wright punched her ticket to the NCAA Championships as she placed second in the 10,000 with a time of 34:25.04.
Like Thackery, Wright ran a controlled race in her 25-lap tour of the track, and even led for a number of laps before taking runner-up honors.
Meanwhile, New Mexico received strong efforts from the rest of its athletes, including a number of exceptionally close, but not qualifying performances.
Allan Hamilton came within one spot of making it to the NCAAs, finishing 13th in the long jump with a mark of 25-4 ¾. Yannick Roggatz was also close to advancing as he placed 18th in the long jump, but couldn’t translate a personal-record leap of 25 ¾ into a berth.
Nicola Hood also came within a few spots of advancing. She took 15th in the 3000-meter steeplechase with a collegiate-best time of 10:25.10, despite running the final 150 meters on a sprained ankle.
Saturday’s track events also produced some superb performances that just missed making the NCAAs.
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| Alice Wright |
Matt Bergin unleashed a valiant kick on the bell-lap homestraight in the men’s 5000, finishing in 14:12.64. He was sixth in his heat — one spot from grabbing an automatic bid — and was bumped from contention by the second heat.
He finished 15th overall.
Tamara Armoush also came close to a nationals bid, running a new personal record in the women’s 1500. She clocked a time of 4:20.81 in the quarterfinal round of the metric mile, finishing 16th overall. She now ranks eighth in school history in the 1500.
Also competing for the men on the track were Alex Herring in the 800 quarterfinals (22nd place, 1:52.36) and Elmar Engholm in the 1500 (44th, 4:02.58). The men’s relay team of Hamilton, Ridge Jones, Carlos Wiggins and Scott Bajere finished 17th in 40.45
In the field, Django Lovett cleared 6-11 ¾ in the men’s high jump (20th place), Hamilton leaped 49-5 ¾ in the men’s triple jump (26th), and Michael Ellis tossed 186-3 in the men’s javelin (43rd).
Julian Florez (10,000) and Beau Clafton (javelin) both did not start their events.
On the women’s side, Sophie Connor advanced to the quarterfinal round of the 1500 alongside Armoush, but finished 23rd (time of 4:27.01).
Elsewhere, Heleene Tambet ran to 23rd in the women’s 10000 (35:37.51); Amber Zimmerman was 19th in the steeplechase (10:30.87) and 30th in the women’s 1500 (4:29.04); Nicole Roberts finished 47th in the steeplechase (11:11.63); and Holly Van Grinsven finished 40th in the 100 hurdles (13.76).
In the field events, Jannell Hadnot took 17th in the triple jump (41-3 ¼), while Casey Dowling was 36th in the long jump (19-3 ½)
The Lobos will travel to Eugene for the final rounds of the championships on June 10-13.