Mackel enters his ninth season as an assistant track and field coach working primarily with the pole vaulters, high jumpers and multi-event athletes.
During his tenure at North Texas, Mackel has coached an All-American, 29 all-conference student-athletes, 23 NCAA Preliminary participants and has seen nine school records broken.
Last season, Brock Hottel established a UNT indoor record in pole vault with a mark of 5.20 meters in his first meet with the Mean Green and captured runner-up honors at the Conference USA Indoor Championships. Jacob Franks and Cody Bullard placed fifth and sixth, respectively, for the men, while Sidney Salinas took fourth place and Mary Piercy garnered eighth for the women.
At the C-USA Outdoor Championships, Salinas earned a podium second-place finish, while Hottel registered sixth place and Bullard seventh. Hottel also qualified for the NCAA West Preliminaries.
In 2018, Mackel guided Bailey Ashmore to a school record 4.05 meters in pole vault and a showing at the NCAA West Preliminaries. During the indoor season, Ashmore captured third place at the C-USA Championships and earned fifth during outdoors. Jacob Van Patten garnered seventh place honors at the indoor championships, while Jacob Franks took fifth outdoors.
At the 2017 C-USA Indoor Championships, Gabriel McAdams secured runner-up honors for the Mean Green men, while Blake Skoog placed fourth and Ashmore came in fifth for the women. During outdoors, Ashmore seized fifth place and Franks finished sixth.
In 2016, three of Mackel's student-athletes advanced to the NCAA Preliminaries in Eddie Wilcox (high jump), Mona Landry (long jump, 4x100), and Jazmine Martin (triple jump). Wilcox became the C-USA indoor champion clearing 2.17 meters (7-1.50 feet) and set a North Texas outdoor high jump record by matching his indoor mark of 2.17 meters.
In pole vault, Mackel saw steady improvement from McAdams and Jordan Faughtenberry who both finished top-3 at the outdoor C-USA championships. Hannah Winn jumped a career-best 3.50 meters for seventh place at the outdoor C-USA championships.
In 2015, Mackel helped coach three student-athletes who qualified for the NCAA West Prelims in Mona Landry (100-meter dash, long jump), Shahaf Bereni (high jump) and Martin (triple jump).
Mackel was a part of Bereni’s first-place finish in high jump at the C-USA Indoor Championship and a third-place finish at the C-USA Outdoor Championships. He also coached eight top-5 finishes and three podium finishes in Derek Richard (pole vault) and Wilcox (high jump).
Mackel’s guidance of the 2014 jump squad sent three athletes to the NCAA preliminary round. Landry earned third team all-conference honors in the C-USA Outdoor Championships and two other student-athletes earned all-conference status.
During 2013, Bareni advanced to the NCAA Championship final and became the second jumper from North Texas to earn All-American honors with a seventh-place showing at 1.83 meters (6’0”), a school record.
Chelsea Hermes broke the school record in the heptathlon at the 2013 Sun Belt Outdoor Conference Championships, and Bareni broke the SBC Championships record for the second consecutive year in the high jump.
In his second season at North Texas, Mackel’s athletes brought down two records at the 2012 Sun Belt Outdoor Conference Championship when Bareni won the women’s high jump, qualifying her to the NCAA West Prelims, and Hermes claimed the No. 1 spot in North Texas history during the heptathlon finishing the two-day competition with 5,056 points and a silver medal.
The 2012 campaign saw big improvements from the women’s pole vaulters as Sarah Vann took home all-conference honors during both the indoor and outdoor championships. All together, the jumps group would string together 42 points for the team score en route to being crowned team champions.
In his first season at North Texas, Mackel worked with the throwers and jumpers. He quickly made an impact as one school record fell, two vaulters qualified for the NCAA West Preliminary Round and a long jumper would earn a silver medal at the Jr. Pan-Am Championships.
During his three-year tenure at New Mexico, Mackel coached pole vaulter Kyle Walker to a second-place finish, All-Mountain West Conference honors and a spot in the NCAA West Preliminary Round with a vault of 5.35 meters (17’4”).
Mackel also worked with Sandy Fortner, the Mountain West Conference Heptathlon Champion (5,723) and a qualifier to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the heptathlon. Fortner was named the Mountain West Female Athlete of the Year in 2010. Mackel mentored pole vaulter Robert Caldwell who would go on to earn All-American honors at the 2008 NCAA outdoor championship with a sixth-place finish.
Mackel, the 2006 NCAA Midwest Regional pole vault champion, also set the Midwest Regional record in that event at 5.51 meters (18’ 1”) and was one of the great success stories in UNM track and field history. He began as an unrecruited walk-on in 2002, with a best vault of under 12 feet out of high school. As a Lobo, Mackel improved by more than six feet during his collegiate career, earning six letters, three All-MWC conference honors and was named MWC Athlete of the Week and Midwest Region Male Athlete of the Year.
He is a 2006 graduate of the University of New Mexico, receiving his bachelor’s degree in university studies and received a master’s degree in exercise science from the UNM in 2010.
Mackel and his wife, Kelly, have a daughter, Lacey.
