Day one of the 2016 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships presented a freshman face competing in the finals in addition to two UNM careers coming to a close.
Freshman Josh Kerr’s new personal record 3 minutes, 41.08 second time in the 1,500-meter run was good enough for fifth place on the day, giving him an automatic bid to compete on Friday for gold.
Kerr’s previous best was 3:42.09, shaving off more than an entire second, which granted him the sixth best time in program history.
The Edinburgh, Scotland native is the third athlete from UNM in the last eight years to make it to the final round of the metric mile. Two-time All-Americans Lee Emanuel (2009-2010) and Peter Callahan (2014, 2015) are the other two runners to compete in the last round of the 1500.
Allan Hamilton, a fellow product of Edinburgh, Scotland, saw his career come to a close on Wednesday.
The departing senior placed 23rd with his leap of 23 feet, 5 ½ inches. Hamilton’s jump in the finals makes him just the seventh individual in UNM history to compete in the long jump finals.
Elmar Engholm placed 14th in the 3000-meter steeplechase with his time of 8:37.44. The three-time conference-champion didn’t make it out of the preliminary round, finishing just two spots behind the top-12 to make it to the finals.
The parting senior’s name currently resides as the 2nd fastest time in New Mexico history, the fastest since Harrison Koroso finished at 8:33.84 back in 1978.
Four more Lobos will compete tonight as seniors Sophie Connor and Emily Hosker-Thornhill will compete in the 1500-meter prelims, Courtney Frerichs in the steeplechase preliminary round, and Alice Wright capping the day off for UNM with the 10,000-meter run.
Liam Cary-Eaves is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers volleyball, women’s basketball and baseball. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Liam_CE.
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