New Mexico's Newest Olympic Hopeful

UNM's Courtney Frerichs

The Olympic Trials are one week away and the NCAA Championships are two weeks past. This small window of time allows a moment to reflect on UNM's first and most recent individual national track champion, Courtney Frerichs. A member of last fall's national champion cross-country team, Frerichs ran away from the field in the 3000m steeplechase and soloed to the title as well as a new UNM and NCAA collegiate record in 9:24:41, breaking the previous record held by 1500m world champion Jenny Simpson by a little more than a second. Frerichs was NCAA runner-up last year running for University of Missouri Kansas City before applying as a graduate transfer to UNM for her final year of eligibility.

New collegiate 3000m steeplechase record

She was a heavy favorite to win the title, winning by nearly 100m. Her time however was exceptionally fast, 6th fastest all-time among US women, which now positions her for a realistic spot on the US Olympic team. She's currently the third US ranked woman by time:

  1. Coburn, 9:10.76 AR
  2. O'Connor, 9:18.85
  3. Frerichs, 9:24.41 CR
  4. Higginson, 9:33.38
  5. Cheever, 9:37.12 

This ranking comes with the caveat that two of the top 5 US women (Garcia, Quigley) have yet to compete this year. Both have PRs within one second of Frerichs new best. Should Frerichs find her way into the top three next week she'll be the first Olympian hailing from New Mexico since Shelly Steely and Aaron Ramirez in 1992.


Updated:
Left out a few athletes with local ties (naturally).

 - Santa Fe athlete Aliphine Tuliamuk-Bolton is one of a handful of Americans in legitimate contention for one of the 10,000m spots. She'll be competing this weekend at the US Trials.

 - Albuquerque Academy alum and prep track phenom Curtis Beach will compete for a spot in the Decathlon. He runs for Nike, and lives and trains in Arizona.

 - Former Lobo standout Ross Millington has punched his ticket to Rio and will be representing the UK in the 10,000m. He lives and trains in Europe.

 - Another former Lobo standout and European Champion Lee Emanuel has a shot at representing the UK in the 1500m. He needs to record a time of 3:36.20 by weeks end. Lee lives and trains in Europe.

Several other UNM sprinters and field event athletes will be competing in their respective nations trials this weekend. A write-up and list of these athletes was pulled together by the UNM athletic department.

Updated 2:
Courtney finished 2nd in 9:20.92 and will be running in Rio as an Olympian. So awesome.


Related Posts:
 - New Mexicans at the Olympic Trials Marathon (2016)
 - Chuck Aragon's Kid Earns a Trials Spot in the 1500m (2016)
 - Olympic Steeplechase Recap (London 2012)
 - A Brief Meeting with Billy Mills