EUGENE, Ore. — Four days, four athletes, four All-Americans.
Four Lobo track and field athletes secured All-American honors for the University of New Mexico to close out the final day of competition at the 2015 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
Calli Thackery’s showing in the women’s 5,000-meter run Saturday capped off the streak of All-American performances for New Mexico, as she followed Logan Pflibsen (pole vault), Alice Wright (10,000) and Peter Callahan (1,500) in earning All-American status on successive days of the championships.
It’s the first time in program history that New Mexico has qualified at least four athletes to the NCAA Championships and that every athlete earned All-American honors.
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| Logan Pflibsen |
New Mexico also fared well in the team scores, as the men finished 36th with 7.5 team points and the women tied for 48th with four points.
For the men, it’s just their third top-40 finish in last decade, while it’s the best finish for the women since 2008.
Pflibsen got the quartet off to a good start when he tied for sixth place in the pole vault on Wednesday. In his final collegiate meet, the senior from Streator, Ill., cleared the first three bars without trouble en route to finishing with a personal-record clearance of 17 feet, 8 ½ inches.
Overall, he finished sixth out of the 24 entrants, claiming the top-eight finish needed for All-American honors.
Additionally, he registered the best finish by a Lobo pole vaulter at the national meet since Robert Caldwell in 2008. Pflibsen, Caldwell and Simon Arkell (1989-91) are the only New Mexico vaulters to earn All-American honors in program history.
Wright added her own All-American showing Thursday as she took eighth in the women’s 10,000 with a time of 33 minutes, 41.86 seconds.
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| Alice Wright |
The redshirt freshman from Worcester, England, rallied past two runners on the final lap of the 25-lap race to secure her first All-American honor on the track.
Just the seventh Lobo to make the NCAAs in the 10,000, Wright is the first to place top eight since Sarah Waldron (sixth place) in 2012. Michelle Corrigan (eighth place, 2009) and Tangi Galloway (fourth, 1996) are the other Lobos to run to All-American status in the 10,000.
An All-American in cross country last fall, Wright is the only runner in New Mexico history to be an All-American in cross country and outdoor track in the same academic year.
Yesterday, Callahan captured the Lobos’ third All-American honor of the championships via his fourth-place time of 3:55.22 in the 1,500. It’s the second-straight year the Evanston, Ill., product has placed fourth and earned All-American honors in the event.
He’s just the third UNM track athlete to record top-four finishes in any event in consecutive years. The last time a Lobo track athlete notched a better place at the NCAAs was 2009, when Lee Emanuel was third in the 1,500.
Callahan is also the ninth New Mexico athlete to capture All-American honors in the same event in back-to-back years.
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| Peter Callahan |
Thackery finished off the parade of All-Americans with a superb showing in the women’s 5,000 on Saturday. After taking the race out at a relatively steady pace, the Yorkshire, England, native held on as the field of 24 runners began to disperse. Around 3000 meters into the race, seven runners, including Thackery, had broken off in the lead.
Just the third Lobo to ever make the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the event, she finished sixth overall in 15:47.15, seconds off her all-time personal best.
By dint of her performance, she earned UNM’s first All-American honor in the event, and her time is the fourth-fastest ever in UNM history.
Thackery and Wright also teamed up for history, becoming the first pair of New Mexico teammates to score for the women at an NCAA Outdoor Championship.
In the team scores, the Oregon women won their first team title in 30 years with a score of 59 points. Kentucky placed second with 50 points, and Texas A&M claimed third with 47 points.
On the men’s side, host Oregon won its second-straight team title with 85 points, helping the Ducks to a sweep of the indoor and outdoor team titles. Florida placed second (56 points), while Arkansas was third (53).
For the Lobos, they will head home having wrapped up the 2015 track and field season. A handful of athletes will compete throughout the summer, and the 2015 cross-country season will open in late summer.