Advocates celebrate council rejection of immigrant friendly policy reversal - Bethany Raja, City Desk ABQ
This story was originally published by City Desk ABQ
Audience members attending Albuquerque’s City Council meeting Monday erupted in cheers and chants of “sí, se puede” as they marched out of council chambers after a bill that would have amended the city’s immigrant friendly ordinance failed on a 4-5 vote.
“We’re so happy. We’re so excited,” said Fabiola Landeros, civil rights and citizenship organizer with the immigrant advocacy group EL CENTRO. “This is a statement that our immigrant policies have been working for the past 24 years, for public safety, for our communities. Not just the immigrant community — but all Burqueños who call Albuquerque home.”
Landeros said when the immigrant community first heard about the bill they knew it would be harmful, and that they had to stand up and fight against it.
“We did it. We did it,” she said.
Albuquerque’s immigrant friendly ordinance was amended in 2017 by Councilor Klarissa Peña and then-councilors Isaac Benton, Pat Davis and Diane Gibson. It states that no city resources will be used to identify someone’s immigration status, and that a person won’t be questioned or detained because they’re suspected of being undocumented.
Opponents to the amendment packed the house, and 125 people signed up for public comment — the majority of whom spoke about the proposal. All but one commenter speaking on the measure agreed with it. EL CENTRO also held a vigil before the council meeting.
The bill would have required Albuquerque police to report noncitizens to Immigration and Customs Enforcement if they were charged with a violent felony, human trafficking or drug trafficking. If it passed, Mayor Tim Keller — who did not support the measure — would have been able to veto it.
The bill was introduced May 6 by Councilors Brook Bassan and Renée Grout.
Councilors Peña, Tammy Fiebelkorn, Louie Sanchez, Nichole Rogers and Joaquín Baca voted against the bill, while Councilors Bassan, Grout, Dan Lewis and Dan Champine voted in favor of the bill.
At Monday’s meeting, Bassan said it’s not this bill that’s dividing the community, it’s the criminals, and that the city must be protected from criminals of all races.
“I believe that we should be an immigrant friendly city,” she said. “But I absolutely think that we need to do everything we can to stop being criminal friendly, and quit being complacent.”
At a rally on Civic Plaza last month, Fiebelkorn said she wasn’t interested in two ways of providing justice in our community. She reiterated the sentiment at Monday’s meeting.
“One Albuquerque is more than a tagline,” she said. “The vote tonight proves that Albuquerque is a compassionate community and we stand with our immigrant community.”
Fiebelkorn said that Monday’s vote was an understanding that immigrants are the heart of our community, and said “cheap political ploys like this do not stand a chance in Albuquerque.”
“I’m elated to be here with the community and see that we were able to convince City Council to vote against this really harmful resolution and honor the immigrant friendly policies that existed,” said Jessica Martinez, policy manager for the New Mexico Immigration Law Center.
The policy as is, she said, builds trust.
“It’s just exciting to see the movement building, that we can see immigrants are treated with respect and dignity and that they’re not scapegoated,” she said. “This is a very powerful moment that we see that our voices were heard.”
In an emailed statement to City Desk ABQ before the vote, Keller said changing the policies threatens to erode trust between the community and law enforcement and could actually make the city less safe.
“We want criminals to be held accountable, and deportation eliminates the possibility of justice for victims and their families,” he said.
After the bill failed, Keller said immigrants are a vital part of the community.
“We’re grateful City Council joined us to keep our immigrant friendly policy intact and make our city stronger and safe for everyone,” he said.
Keller reiterated that when communities trust law enforcement, crime reporting goes up and criminals are held accountable.
‘IT’S THE UNITED STATES CITIZENS’
According to Second Judicial District Attorney Sam Bregman, it isn’t undocumented immigrants who are committing crimes in Albuquerque.
At a town hall meeting in Tijeras last week, Bregman said that every single murder case that’s launched in his office goes across his desk.
“It’s the United States citizens that are the vast majority,” he said. “In fact, I cannot think of more than one person that we’ve prosecuted in 14 months — and we prosecute a hell of a lot of people in that office — for murder, for example, that was an undocumented individual. I cannot think of more than one.”
Bregman said most people committing crimes in Bernalillo County are United States citizens, and cases involving undocumented individuals get blown out of proportion.
“I get that, I understand that, but I also will tell you something,” Bregman said. “If you commit a violent crime in our country, I want to prosecute you and put you in prison.”
Bregman said he didn’t want these individuals to be deported before being prosecuted because he didn’t want them to have the ability to come back into the country after a couple of years. Once someone is prosecuted, Bregman said he’ll let immigration officials do what they’re going to do.
Bregman said oftentimes members of the migrant community are the victims of crimes or witnesses to serious crimes.
“They’re scared so they don’t testify and then that guy that did all the damage gets away with it and that’s a real problem for me,” he said.
CTRL+P publisher Pat Davis, a former city councilor, was a sponsor of the original immigrant friendly ordinance in 2017. His term on the council ended in 2023.
New Mexico voters oust incumbents from Legislature with positive implications for paid family leave - By Morgan Lee, Associated Press
New Mexico voters have ousted several incumbent lawmakers in the state's primary election, as ballots were tallied Wednesday.
Former school board member and educator Jon Hill of Las Cruces defeated state Rep. Willie Madrid of Chapparal in Tuesday's primary election. Hill campaigned in support of environmental and progressive initiatives — including the need for paid family leave legislation after a bill failed this year on a 34-36 state House vote, with several Democrats including Madrid voting in opposition. The district borders Texas and traverses the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument.
Uncertified election results also show Anita Gonzales of Las Vegas, New Mexico, capturing the Democratic nomination to a rural district that unites distant communities from Moriarty to Pecos. She defeated two-term state Rep. Ambrose Castellano of Serafina, an opponent of the paid family leave legislation. Nearly 70% of district residents identify themselves as Latino.
More than 20 incumbents had challengers in the primary, under a closed system that limits participation to voters who register with major parties, leaving out minor-party or unaffiliated voters, but not Libertarians.
In House District 69, incumbent Democratic Rep. Harry Garcia of Grants, a social conservative on abortion and proponent of gun rights, lost his bid for a fifth term. Attorney Michelle "Paulene" Abeyta of To'hajiilee on the Navajo Nation won the nomination for a district where two-thirds of registered voters identify as Native American. Abeyta has no Republican competition in the general election.
In Senate District 13, incumbent state Sen. Bill O'Neill of Albuquerque was defeated in the Democratic primary by Bernalillo County Commissioner Debbie O'Malley in a contest between seasoned politicians in a heavily redrawn district that includes downtown Albuquerque.
O'Malley signaled concerns about crime and homelessness as top priorities, while corralling endorsements from labor unions representing teachers and public employees.
O'Neill, an advocate on juvenile justice issues, brought a literary flair to the Legislature, publishing a volume of poetry about prominent Statehouse personalities and a two-person stage play, "Save the Bees," about friendship between two lawmakers who are ideological opposites. The play inspired public readings and performances across New Mexico and beyond.
Tuesday's primary included the first state Senate election since redistricting in 2021 and held implications for Native American communities, the state's oil industry and the #MeToo movement.
Native American candidates made inroads toward greater representation in the Legislature with victories in two closely watched Democratic primaries. District attorneys withstood primary challengers in crime-weary Albuquerque, as well as in Santa Fe, where special prosecutors are preparing to bring Alec Baldwin to trial in July on an involuntary manslaughter charge.
And Two Republicans who have stoked Donald Trump's failed efforts to overturn the 2020 election won GOP nominations for state Senate, advancing to competitive general election contests.
Democratic voters in the Albuquerque district ousted state Sen. Daniel Ivey-Soto in the wake of allegations of sexual harassment and bullying behavior that he disputed.
He was beaten by progressive challenger Heather Berghmans, who will compete in November against GOP contender Craig Degenhardt. The district extends from the intersection of Interstates 25 and 40 toward the city's northeastern heights.
In House District 62, Republican contender Elaine Sena Cortez of Hobbs won a three-way primary to secure a seat in the heart of southeastern New Mexico's oil economy currently held by petroleum engineer Larry Scott, with no Democratic competition in the general election. Scott won the decisive Republican nomination for an overlapping state Senate district, defeating recently appointed state Sen. Steve McCutcheon of Carlsbad.
Should the city lower the threshold to win an election? - Elizabeth McCall, City Desk ABQ
This story was originally published by City Desk ABQ
On a night when the City Council chambers were packed with advocates speaking out against efforts to amend the city’s immigrant friendly policy, more than a dozen speakers also took to the lectern to criticize proposed changes to the city charter.
They referred to the proposal that would allow candidates to be elected with at least 40% of the total vote instead of 50% as “antidemocratic” and “a recipe for ineffective government” and urged a move to ranked choice voting as the meeting continued past 11 p.m.
CONTROVERSY ON VOTING CHANGES
City Councilors Dan Lewis, Klarissa Peña and Renée Grout had introduced proposals to amend the city’s charter by — among other items — changing the city’s majority rules for voting and the appointment and removal of key officials. The proposals were scheduled to be debated at the council’s May 20 meeting but were postponed to the June 3 meeting.
Monday night, the council once again deferred the proposals until the next meeting on June 17.
The proposal to change the voting majority rules would allow a mayor or city councilor to be elected with at least 40% of the total vote. Concerned community members said if the council wishes to change the voting rules, a ranked choice voting system should be adopted. Councilors Nichole Rogers and Tammy Fiebelkorn introduced an ordinance to do just that, but it failed on a 3-6 vote.
A ranked choice voting system allows voters to rank candidates by preference on the ballot.
Lewis said the proposals he put forward have taken shape because of feedback and discussion with the public. He said he likes the idea of ranked choice voting but it is “incredibly confusing to voters.”
“I think there is nothing more undemocratic than run-off elections where votes are suppressed — there is a lot of voter suppression that happens when you have a small turnout,” Lewis said. “This is an attempt to address voter suppression when it comes to run-off elections. We have done this for 10 years and it’s time for the people to decide on whether this is how they want their government to run.”
Sila Avcil, executive director of New Mexico Open Elections, told the council that voters have elected candidates with more than 50% support since 2013 and that should not change.
“Winners with only 40% of the vote do not have a mandate to govern,” Avcil said. “Ranked choice voting is a better alternative; it still allows for candidates to win with 50% plus one public support. It eliminates costly runoff elections with low unrepresentative turnout as it automatically calculates voters’ preferences in order and it provides more options and a better voice for all voters at the polls.”
A representative for Common Cause New Mexico, Mason Graham, also spoke in opposition to the proposal and said majority rule is a foundational principle of representative democracy and to change it would be “alarming” and a “recipe for ineffective government.”
While he said he agrees that the charter should be regularly assessed, Councilor Joaquín Baca said it should not be done over a few weeks.
“Using democracy to take away the ruling majority is not democracy,” Baca said.
OTHER CHARTER CHANGES
Councilors also deferred a proposal to adopt a committee composed of mayoral and City Council appointees to recommend candidates for possible appointment as city clerk and city attorney. Currently, the mayor appoints the city clerk and city attorney with “advice and consent” from two-thirds of the council.
Another proposal introduced by Lewis and Peña would change the process to remove the Albuquerque Police Department and Albuquerque Fire Rescue chiefs. The council currently has the authority to remove a chief but must have a reason. This proposal would allow the mayor to terminate a chief at any time but allow the council to terminate the employment agreement with notice to the chief and mayor, along with a two-thirds vote of the council.
Before postponing the proposal, councilors discussed changing the number of days a person may serve in an interim position. Currently, the amendment states that a person may not serve in an interim chief position for longer than 90 days. To ensure they have sufficient time to fill a position, the council changed that to 270 days.
Adding to the list is a proposal to establish a process for filling vacancies on a three-member conference committee that resolves disputes between the executive and legislative branches.
Due to multiple proposed changes, Councilors Fiebelkorn, Rogers and Baca introduced another resolution to create a task force to review the charter and make recommendations on the proposed revisions.
Fiebelkorn said she thinks there needs to be more public input before the council votes on the charter changes. She said the changes have not been discussed until almost 10 p.m. at every meeting, which is not adequate time to receive public input.
Lewis recommended deferring that resolution until the next meeting so council members can further review the possibility of convening a task force and the duties of the task force.
Coronado Dog Park
In other business, the council declared the Coronado Dog Park nonessential for city use in a 6-3 vote. Residents in the area were against the move, which would allow the property to be put up for sale and remove the park.
The council also approved a resolution that would allow the revenue from the sale to go toward other parks in the area.
Mountain View residents allege City of Albuquerque has violated their civil rights - Hannah Grover, New Mexico Political Report
Residents of the Mountain View neighborhood in the South Valley of Albuquerque have filed a complaint with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regarding environmental justice and air pollution in minority and low-income communities. The South Valley of Albuquerque is in an unincorporated area of Bernalillo County, but abuts the city and is heavily impacted by city decisions.
The South Valley residents are asking the EPA to investigate whether the city of Albuquerque and its city council are violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination against people due to their race, national origin or color. Additionally, they requested that the EPA hold Albuquerque responsible for violations of civil rights. The residents are represented by the New Mexico Environmental Law Center. Friends of the Valle del Oro Wildlife Refuge joined the Mountain View residents in filing the complaint.
The Los Jardines Institute along with the Natural Resources Defense Council filed a separate complaint with similar allegations.
Several residents attended the crowded City Council meeting Monday evening and announced that they had filed the complaint on May 31.
Marla Painter, the president of Mountain View Community Action, outlined the steps that the residents have taken, including filing a petition with the Albuquerque-Bernalillo County Air Quality Control Board proposing what she described as a remedy for the discrimination against the low-income and minority communities in the South Valley.
This remedy was the Health and Environmental Equity Impacts rulemaking. The board ultimately adopted a variation of that rule that was more limited in scope. The vote occurred in defiance of the Albuquerque city council.
One of the things the rule requires is that the city and county Environmental Health Department creates a map of areas that are “overburdened” to determine to what extent a new air permit or modification will impact the surrounding community.
Painter spoke about how when the air quality control board granted the petitioners a hearing on the HEEI rule, Albuquerque City Councilor Dan Lewis brought a resolution to the city council “to abolish the (air quality control board) and postpone any further meetings until the board could be reassembled with industry friendly members.”
While Mayor Tim Keller vetoed that resolution, the city council was able to override Keller’s veto.
Forrest Graver, president of the Friends of the Valle del Oro Wildlife Refuge, said the City Council took those actions to prevent the Air Quality Control Board from adopting any regulations that would “address systemic, ongoing discrimination” that the City of Albuquerque has allowed for decades.
“Allowing these actions to continue results in intentional and inequitable discrimination by the local government against its low-income communities and people of color,” he said.
Lewis’ actions led to an ethics complaint due to his involvement in the paving and asphalt industry, which could be directly impacted by Air Quality Control Board decisions. He reached a settlement with the State Ethics Commission in May in which he agreed to recuse himself from any decisions regarding the Air Quality Control Board.
“Let me just tell you that you have violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” Painter told the council on Monday. “Consider yourselves served.”
Lauro Silva, a board member of the Mountain View Neighborhood Association, said his community has been a “dumping ground” and a place that policy makers can exploit in an effort to make a name for themselves.
He told the city council that the Mountain View neighborhood has faced “environmental contamination from hazardous, toxic and carcinogenic pollution” due to the city’s policies dating back to the 1970s.
There are several oil terminals, scrap yards, chemical storage facilities, a municipal wastewater treatment plant and two Superfund sites within the Mountain View community and the larger South Valley area. Additionally, the community is downwind of the Kirtland Air Force Base, Sandia National Laboratories and the Albuquerque International Sunport.
“The Albuquerque-Bernalillo County Environmental Health Department has allowed in a great number of these hazardous, toxic, and carcinogenic polluting industries by granting Special Use Permits despite opposition by community residents and the Neighborhood Association.” Silva said in a press release. “The community’s most recent attempt to establish a regulation by the Air Quality Control Board has resulted in extreme environmental racism against the approximately 80 percent Mexican American/Chicano community by the Albuquerque City Council, which is why we filed our Civil Rights Complaint to the EPA.”
In the complaint, the residents state that for decades both industries and local governments have “intentionally designated communities of color and low-income communities in Albuquerque and Bernalillo County, New Mexico, as sacrificial zones for pollution through their permitting practices and policy decisions, with more industrial sites located in and adjacent to these neighborhoods than in predominantly white, more affluent communities.”
They say that communities of color and low-income populations in Albuquerque are exposed to higher levels of toxic pollutants and, because of that, have higher rates of cancer, heart disease, respiratory illness and other health conditions.
In its complaint, Los Jardines Institute states that the Albuquerque City Council is actively opposing efforts by the Air Quality Control Board to make the city and county’s Environmental Health Department comply with the regulation that the board adopted in December.
The HEEI rule has been challenged in court, including by the Environmental Health Department.
Los Jardines Institute outlines how racial segregation in Albuquerque and Bernalillo County—including covenants preventing property sales to people of color—led to minority communities being concentrated in certain parts of the city and county.
The complaint states that air permitting data shows that polluting facilities are concentrated in predominantly Latino neighborhoods and 36 percent of the permitted facilities are located “in the four zip codes covering San Jose, Mountain View, Greater Gardner, Martineztown, and the International District despite those zip codes accounting for only 21 percent of the county’s population.”
“For too long, environmental justice communities in Albuquerque and Bernalillo County have been exposed to dangerous levels of industrial pollution while local officials failed to act and even fought efforts to reduce that disproportionate pollution burden,” Sofia Martinez, co-coordinator of Los Jardines Institute, said in a press release. “If our communities can’t get protection from local government, including the Environmental Health Department, we have no other recourse but to call on the federal government to intervene and require compliance with Title VI to protect our health and environment.”
This is not the first time that Albuquerque has faced allegations of civil rights violations due to air pollution and industry locations. In 2014, the Southwest Organizing Project filed a similar Title VI complaint, which the EPA accepted in 2016. Los Jardines Institute states in its complaint that advocates who sent in public records requests uncovered a 2022 draft informal resolution.
But Los Jardines Institute and NRDC state in their complaint that the 2014 complaint does not preclude the EPA from acting on the current allegations.
“Harmful and disproportionate air pollution has existed for a long time in Bernalillo County. It started with acts of intentional discrimination in housing,” the complaint states. “It continues to this day, with pollution and attendant health harms not improving, and by some measures deteriorating since 2014. Ten years is long enough for these communities to wait. If it would be duplicative or unhelpful to consider our complaint separately from the 2014 Complaint, EPA may consolidate them and resolve them together.”
Phoenix using ice immersion to treat heatstroke victims as Southwest bakes with highs well over 100 - By Anita Snow, Associated Press
The season's first heat wave is already baking the Southwest with triple-digit temperatures as firefighters in Phoenix — America's hottest big city — employ new tactics in hopes of saving more lives in a county that saw 645 heat-related deaths last year.
Starting this season, the Phoenix Fire Department is immersing heatstroke victims in ice on the way to area hospitals. The medical technique, known as cold-water immersion, is familiar to marathon runners and military service members and has also recently been adopted by Phoenix hospitals as a go-to protocol, Fire Capt. John Prato said.
Emergency crews may be using the technique sooner than expected as oppressive heat has arrived earlier than usual across much of the region. The mercury reached 108 F (42.2 C) on Wednesday in Phoenix and Las Vegas, and record highs topping 110 F (43.3 C) are forecast in both cities on Thursday.
Prato demonstrated the potentially lifesaving method earlier this week outside the emergency department of Valleywise Health Medical Center in Phoenix, packing ice cubes inside an impermeable blue bag around a medical dummy representing a patient. He said the technique could dramatically lower body temperature in minutes.
"Just last week, we had a critical patient that we were able to bring back before we walked through the emergency room doors," Prato said. "That's our goal — to improve patient survivability."
The heatstroke treatment has made ice and human-sized immersion bags standard equipment on all Phoenix fire department emergency vehicles. It is among measures the city adopted this year as temperatures and their human toll soar ever higher. Phoenix for the first time is also keeping two cooling stations open overnight this season.
"There's a very high-pressure system over the Southwest that's bringing the first heat wave of the summer to the region," said Sean Benedict, a lead meteorologist for the weather service based in Phoenix. He said in addition to Arizona, the extreme heat will bake areas of eastern California, northern California and Nevada and even parts of southern Texas over the next few days.
Using its Heat Risk sliding scale to measure potentially dangerous heat in a 24-hour period, the National Weather Service in Las Vegas forecasted "extreme" heat in parts of southern Nevada from Wednesday throughout the weekend.
"Extreme" is the most dangerous heat level on the scale, and so rare that it occurs only a few times annually, the weather service said. It warned of little to no relief overnight from daytime heat, with low temperatures in the Las Vegas area expected to run 10 to 15 degrees Fahrenheit above normal.
Excessive heat warnings were in effect through Friday evening for parts of southeast California, southern Nevada and Arizona. The unseasonably hot weather was expected to spread northward and make its way into parts of the Pacific Northwest by the weekend.
In California on Wednesday, Bishop's high of 102 F (38.8 C) broke the previous record of 101 F (38.3 C) set in 2021. It topped out at 106 F (41.1 C) in Needles and 118 F (47.7 C) at Death Valley National Park, where the high of 121 F (49.4 C) forecast Thursday would tie the mark last equaled in 1996.
Other highs in Arizona on Wednesday included 111 F (43.8 C) in Kingman and Bullhead City. It was 100 F (37.7 C) in Roswell, New Mexico, and 97 F (36.1 C) in Reno, Nevada, where the normal high for the date is 81 F (27.2 C).
A warning has been issued for most of Thursday and Friday for parts of Grand Canyon National Park for areas below 4,000 feet (1,220 meters) including Phantom Ranch and Havasupai Gardens, where forecasted temperatures ranged from 105 F (40.5 C) to 111 F (43.8 C).
In southern New Mexico, highs were expected to reach triple digits, prompting the city of Las Cruces on Wednesday to activate its cooling centers to provide residents with temporary shelter from the blistering heat. A heat advisory for the area will be in effect through Thursday.
The Albuquerque mayor announced Wednesday this year's "Operation Cooldown," which includes plans for cooling centers and the use of sprinklers at city parks for kids to keep cool.
The City Council in Arizona's second-largest city of Tucson this week adopted a heat protection ordinance to ensure that city employees have access to cool water, shade and extra breaks at their workplaces. The action comes after Pima County, home to Tucson, last year saw 176 heat-related deaths and another 51 such deaths in the five additional rural counties that the medical examiner handles.
Officials in Maricopa County were stunned earlier this year when final numbers showed 645 heat-related deaths in Arizona's largest county, a majority of them in Phoenix. The most brutal period was a heat wave with 31 subsequent days of temperatures of 110 F (43.3 C) or higher, which claimed more than 400 lives.
"We've been seeing a severe uptick in the past three years in cases of severe heat illness," said Dr. Paul Pugsley, medical director of emergency medicine with Valleywise Health. Of those, about 40% do not survive.
Cooling down patients long before they get to the emergency department could change the equation, he said.
The technique "is not very widely spread in non-military hospitals in the U.S., nor in the prehospital setting among fire departments or first responders," Pugsley said. He said part of that may be a longstanding perception that the technique's use for all cases of heatstroke by first responders or even hospitals was impractical or impossible.
Pugsley said he was aware of limited use of the technique in some places in California, including Stanford Medical Center in Palo Alto, Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno, and the San Antonio Fire Department in Texas.
Banner University Medical Center in Phoenix embraced the protocol last summer, said Dr. Aneesh Narang, assistant medical director of emergency medicine there.
"This cold-water immersion therapy is really the standard of care to treat heatstroke patients," he said.
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Associated Press writers Rio Yamat and Ken Ritter in Las Vegas and Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, New Mexico and Scott Sonner in Reno, Nevada, contributed to this report.
Daniel and Robinson-O'Hagan complete indoor/outdoor sweeps at NCAA track and field championships - Associated Press
Kentucky pole vaulter Keaton Daniel and shot putter Tarik Robinson-O'Hagan of Mississippi both completed NCAA indoor/outdoor sweeps on Wednesday night at the outdoor track and field championships.
Daniel cleared 18 feet, 7 1/4 inches to become the first Wildcat to win both indoor and outdoor NCAA pole vault championships in the same season.
Robinson-O'Hagan led wire to wire in reaching 68-6 on his final throw to become the 17th thrower in Division I history to claim indoor and outdoor titles in a season.
USC topped the team standings with 19 points. Georgia was second with 13, followed by California with 12.5.
JC Stevenson of USC won the long jump with a personal record of 26-11 3/4. Stevenson, whose previous best was 26-5, moved from seventh place to win the event on his final attempt with the third-best mark in program history.
Rowan Hamilton became Cal's first men's hammer champion since 1922 with a collegiate-best throw, and a school record of 253.2. It was his fourth national collegiate title, with the previous three coming while at the NAIA-member British Columbia.
New Mexico freshman Habtom Samuel took a tumble in the 10,000-meter race before finishing with a winning time of 28 minutes, 7.82 seconds. Samuel became the first male in school history to win an NCAA outdoor 5,000 or 10,000 title. Weini Kelati won the women's 10,000 in 2019 for the Lobos.
Marc Minichello led from the first javelin throw and put it away with a 264-9 for his second NCAA title — but first with Georgia.
Leo Neugebauer of Texas led the decathlon with 4,685 points at the halfway mark.
The men's events continue Friday at Hayward Field.