SEATTLE — On the same day teammate Sophie Connor nabbed a bid to nationals in Albuquerque, another Lobo did just the same nearly 1,500 miles away.
University of New Mexico track & field senior Calli Thackery ran to a school record and NCAA berth in the 3,000-meter run as she clocked a stellar time of 9 minutes, 3.59 seconds at the Husky Classic Saturday evening.
Thackery, an NCAA qualifier in the 3,000 last season, very likely seized a second-consecutive spot at next month’s NCAA Indoor Championships in Birmingham, Ala. behind her a personal-record performance at Dempsey Indoor in Seattle.
She joins Connor (mile) and Jannell Hadnot (triple jump) as the Lobos’ probable NCAA squad through four weeks of the season. Both Connor and Hadnot made their cases for NCAA berth at the Don Kirby Elite Invitational on Saturday.
But in Seattle, Thackery shined, finishing in fifth place overall and second collegiately against a field that featured some of the top collegiate talent and eight professional and post-collegiate runners.
Her time, a four-second personal best over her time of 9:07.31 set at last year’s Husky Classic, is the best in UNM history and now ranks second in Mountain West history.
The only collegian to top Thackery was fellow Mountain West runner Allie Ostrander of Boise State, who ran 8:54.27 for the new MW record.
The previous Lobo record in the 3000 was Josephine Moultrie’s 9:06.35 set at the 2013 Washington Invitational.
The Lobos are almost done for their regular season, with a distance medley relay team featuring Thackery and Connor scheduled to run next weekend in North Carolina.
The rest of the Lobos are off next week as they prepare to host the Mountain West Indoor Championships Feb. 25-27 at the Albuquerque Convention Center.