Familiar athletes kept fans riveted during Summer Games
For a sparsely populated state, New Mexico was well-represented at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The roster:
■ Cameron Bairstow, University of New Mexico, basketball.
Competing for Australia, Bairstow scored 17 points and had nine rebounds in a preliminary-round victory over China. But he was injured in the next game against Venezuela and didn’t play again. Australia lost to Spain in the bronze medal game.
■ Courtney Frerichs, University of New Mexico, track & field (steeplechase).
Competing for the United States, Frerich ran 11th at Rio in a time of 9 minutes, 22.87 seconds.
“We got to try on the (Olympic team) uniforms and everything,” Frerichs said of the pre-Olympic buildup. “That’s when it started to get real. I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh. I’m going to the Olympics.’”
■ Gavin Green, UNM, golf. Competing for Malaysia, Green finished 47th at Rio with a 3-over-par score of 287 for four rounds.
“Not many Malaysians have had a chance to compete in the Olympics,” Green told the Journal. “It’s definitely a huge honor.”
■ Anicka Newell, Highland High School, track & field (pole vault).
Competing for Canada, Newell cleared the bar at 13 feet, 6 inches. She did not advance past the group stage.
‘It hasn’t really sunk in yet,” Newell, whose mother was born in Canada, told the Journal before leaving . ... “It’s kind of surreal, but I’m pumped.”
■ Gerina Piller, Roswell, golf. Competing for the U.S., Piller tied for 11th in Rio with a 6-under score of 278.
“Being an Olympian isn’t something I ever dreamed of growing up,” she told the Journal before leaving for Brazil. “I know that it’s, like, every kid’s dream to play in the Olympics, but so very few get that opportunity.”
■ Nick Slade, Albuquerque Academy, Paralympics, track & field: Competing for the U.S., Slade finished seventh in the long jump at Rio with a leap of 22 feet, 3¾ inches.
“It’s pretty overwhelming,” Slade, a 2015 graduate, told the Journal before the competition. “I’m so grateful for this.”
■ Jarrin Solomon, La Cueva/UNM, track & field (400 relay).
Competing for Trinidad & Tobago, Solomon’s team was disqualified because of a lane infringement. The team’s second runner of the four-person relay — Lalonde Gordon — ran out of his required lane, resulting in the team’s disqualification.
“Devastating,” Solomon said to the Journal of the disqualification. “I had already left the stadium, getting mentally ready for the finals when I found out from a reporter,” Solomon said. “But it was definitely a violation.”
Solomon won a bronze medal in the same event from the 2012 Olympics in London.
■ Nathan Schrimsher, Roswell, modern pentathlon.
Schrimsher, who was home-schooled along with brother Lucas, who also competes in the sport, was the first member of Team USA to qualify for the Rio Games when he got a bronze in the Pan American Games in Toronto in July 2015.
He then spent the next year preparing for his first Games appearance, largely at the team’s Colorado Springs training center.
In an event that includes fencing, swimming, equestrian, pistol shooting and running, he finished 11th out of 36 athletes entered.