Thursday’s Results | Thursday’s Team Scores
CLOVIS, Calif. — Facing arguably the some of the longest events in track & field to open the championships, the Lobos showed they were up to the task.
The University of New Mexico track & field team opened up competition at the 2016 Mountain West Outdoor Track & Field Championships with strong performances in the 10,000-meter runs and combined events on Thursday.
Calli Thackery led the way with a dominant win in the women’s 10000, while the Lobos’ crew of multi-event athletes tallied a pair of scoring efforts in both the decathlon and heptathlon on day two of the four-day meet
Daniel Lam and Beau Clafton placed second and sixth, respectively, in the decathlon, while the duo of Samantha Bowe (fourth place) and Kyra Mohns (eighth) scored in the heptathlon at Veteran’s Memorial Stadium in Clovis, Calif.
Between the combined events and the 10Ks, the only two events to go final so far at the championships, the Lobo women sit in second place with 16 team points. The men are fourth with 12 team points.
Thackery’s victory powered the New Mexico women up the team standings, as the junior distance standout dazzled in her first-ever competitive 10K, winning handily in 34 minutes, 30.24 seconds.
Although she specializes in the 1500 and the 5000, Thackery showed off her range on Thursday, winning track’s longest event by over a minute.
It’s also the Lobos’ second straight 10K title, behind Alice Wright’s win last year.
Not to be outshone, New Mexico’s multi-event athletes also posted some outstanding marks during Wednesday’s and Thursday’s combined events.
Lam captured runner-up honors in the decathlon behind strong results in the shot put (second place, mark of 41-8 ½), discus (first, 136-6) and pole vault (first, 15-5). He finished with a total of 7,047 points, just shy of his all-time personal record of 7,079 points.
The sophomore used his wins in the discus and pole vault to great effect, mounting a comeback as he rose from seventh place to first place before yielding the decathlon crown late.
His silver medal is the best the Lobos have earned since Richard York took second in 2013.
Clafton also had a solid performance, piecing together an overall PR via his marks in the 100 dash (first, 10.85), shot put (first, 45-1) and javelin (second, 181-2). He finished sixth, notching a total of 6,769 points.
The tandem are the first pair of Lobos to score in a MW decathlon since York and Sam Potter went second and fifth in 2012.
On the women’s side, Bowe claimed a fourth-place score of 5,168 points in the heptathlon with strong performances in the 100 hurdles (second, PR of 14.08), shot put (first, 39-6) and long jump (T-1st, 18-10 ¾).
Her hurdle time was so exceptional that it moved her to fifth all-time in New Mexico history in the event.
Mohns added the Lobos’ final scoring effort in the multi-events, placing eighth with 4,913 points. She rode solid finishes in the shot put (fifth, PR of 36-7 ¾) and javelin (fifth, 113-8) to her score.
In the men’s 10000, Matt Bergin tallied the Lobos’ lone scoring run, as he took eighth place in 30:29.47.
Julian Florez (10th, 31:08.82), Dan Milechman (12th, 31:22.96) and Zac Castillo (17th, 32:03.00) also ran the men’s 10K.
Through Thursday’s action, Colorado State leads both the men’s and women’s standings, holding 29 points on the women’s side and 25 points on the men’s.
Day three of the championships start Friday at 4:30 p.m. MT with the women’s hammer throw, while action on the track is slated to start at 6 p.m. MT with the qualifying rounds of the men’s 110-meter hurdles.
Keep up-to-date with results by visiting the MW’s official website and check back tomorrow for an update on the Lobos’ progress.