ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Seven athletes and two staff members past and present from The University of New Mexico will participate in the 2024 Paris Olympics. Competition in Paris will span from July 26 to August 11, concluding with the closing ceremonies on that date.
Three former UNM golfers will compete in Paris – Manon De Roey (Belgium), Victor Perez (France) and Gavin Green (Malaysia). Perez will be making his Olympic debut, with De Roey making her second appearance and Green making his third appearance. De Roey finished tied for 46th at the 2020 games in Tokyo. Green finished 47th at the 2016 Summer Olympics and tying for 57th at the 2020 Summer Olympics. A MW Champion in 2013, De Roey helped the Lobos win a Mountain West Conference title in 2014. She received honors as an All-American Scholar from the National Golf Coaches’ Association in 2011 and was named All-Conference Second Team in 2013 and 2014.
During his time at UNM (2011-2015), Green won a program-record eight tournaments and was a 3-time All-American (3rd team in 2013, 2nd team in 2014, 1st team in 2015) as well as a two-time Mountain West Conference Golfer of the Year.
A three-time All-MW selection, Perez was a MW Scholar Athlete from 2012-2015 and a two-time Academic All-American while helping the Lobos win team MW Championships in 2013 and 2014 alongside Green.
Two former UNM track and field athletes that both won NCAA individual titles during their time in Albuquerque qualified for Paris and will represent their respective countries – Josh Kerr (Great Britain) in the 1,500m and Weini Kelati (USA) in the 10,000m — with two other decorated Lobo distance alums in Calli Thackery (Great Britain) and Fiona O’Keeffe (USA) set to compete in the marathon.
After winning his first World Championship in the 1,500m last fall in Budapest, Kerr was already a surefire selection to Team GB for Paris – he’ll square off again with his archrival Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway, who won gold in the event in Tokyo while Kerr took home bronze in his first Olympics.
In the year since his first world title, Kerr set the indoor two-mile world record (8:00.67) at the 2024 Millrose Games and defeated Jakob Ingebrigtsen again in a highly-anticipated Mile race at the Prefontaine Classic earlier this spring, clocking 3:45.24 for a new British record.
Kelati will be making her Olympics debut for Team USA after becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen in June 2021, changing her national sports allegiance from Eritrea to the United States. Even though she’d already secured the Olympic 10,000m Standard earlier in March, she left nothing to chance with an epic kick at the U.S. Olympic Trials to hold off Parker Valby and Karissa Schweizer down the stretch, finishing in 31:41.07 to win her first U.S. title and punch her ticket to Paris.
In the last year alone, Kelati broke the American record in the Half Marathon (1:06:25) as well as the North American record for 20 km (63:05), won the USATF National Club Cross Country Championships (32:58.6) and finished 15th at World Cross Country Championships in Serbia as the top American finisher.
Thackery only ran her first marathon in 2023, but she’s already claimed individual bronze and team gold in the half marathon last month at the 2024 European Championships. This will also be her first Olympics appearance after representing Team GB at the Commonwealth Games in 2022.
O’Keeffe — also making her Olympic debut — secured her place in Paris by winning 2024 United States Olympic Marathon Trials in February, finishing in 2:22:10. It was her first marathon, having qualified for the trials with a 1:09:34 finish at the 2023 Raleigh Holiday Half Marathon.
During his time at UNM, Kerr won NCAA individual titles in the Indoor Mile (2017 & 2018) and the Outdoor 1,500m (2017). Kelati won an NCAA title in the Outdoor 10,000m in 2019 before winning an NCAA Cross Country Championship in the Fall of 2019, wrapping up her Lobo career as the most decorated athlete in program history with 13 All-American honors.
Thackery won MW outdoor titles in the 1,500m (2015) and the 10,000m (2016) during her time as a Lobo, finishing 15th at 2015 NCAA XC Championships to help the Lobos win their first national championship. She earned indoor All-American honors in both the 3,000m and as a part of the UNM Distance Medley team that reached NCAA Indoor Championships in 2016, and raced her way to NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 5,00m in both 2015 and 2016, finishing 6th in 2015. Her collegiate outdoor 5,000m best of 15:37.44 still stands at No. 7 on the UNM all-time list, and her 9:03.59 indoor 3,000m best ranks No. 5 all-time.
O’Keeffe joined the program as a graduate transfer from Stanford in April 2020, but the COVID pandemic forestalled her hopes of competing as a Lobo — she went professional in January 2021 after qualifying for the U.S. Olympic Trials in the 10,000m. During her time at Stanford, she earned eight All-American awards, with a best placing of 3rd at the 2019 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships in the 5000 m.
Ellis Dawson and MacKenzie White will both be returning to the Olympics to serve as staff for Team USA, with Dawson serving as a manager for Team USA Basketball and White working as a dietician for swimming and track & field.
Dawson, a 1993 graduate of University of New Mexico, started working for USA Basketball as a competitive programs manager on Feb. 22, 2005, and was elevated to the position of assistant director, national teams in 2009. While at UNM Dawson spent seven years as a student manager, from Oct. 1988 through Oct. 1995, for the Lobos basketball team.
In his position Dawson assists in all facets of the men’s and women’s competitive programs, including player personnel and basketball operations during trials, training camps and competitions. Additionally, he assists with the team outfitting; coordinates apparel inventory and video equipment; maintains the USA Basketball video library; as well as assists in coordinating the USA Basketball Officials Program.
White graduated from UNM in 2009 with a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition/Dietetics and was a member of the Lobo tennis team. She currently serves as a Sports Dietitian Contractor with the USOPC’s Team IV (track and field, swimming, golf, equestrian, weightlifting, climbing, shooting), and has done so since 2018. White attended the World Championships with Swimming (S Korea) and Track and Field (Qatar) in 2019 and worked with USATF in the Tokyo Olympics.
While at UNM, White was named the Lobo Club Student Athlete of the Year (2008-2009), received the Arthur Ashe/ITA Regional Sportsmanship Award (2008-2009) and was named to the Mountain West Conference’s All-Conference Team for Women’s Tennis (2009). She completed her Master of Science degree at the University of Memphis in 2010 and received the University of Memphis Outstanding Alumni Award in 2017.
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