Final tuneup successful for women's track

Saturday, April 24, Colorado State University hosted the Jack Christiansen Invitational where the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs women's track team competed in their last outdoor meet of the regular season.

The events featuring Mountain Lion women included the 3000-meter steeplechase, where junior Chelsey Cerrillo came in first on her team and fourth overall with at 12 minutes, 23 seconds, followed by senior Christi-Marie Butler at 12:58 and sophomore Brandy Smith at 14:26.

"One bad jump put me behind the (Colorado State) girls I was running with. I held back for a while and then blew them away on the last straight," Cerrillo said. "The race felt hard, but I though I would have run a better time than that."

Tiffany Flint, CU-Colorado Springs' lone female sprinter, set a new school record in the 200-meter dash with a 26:94 earning her the "Runner of the Meet" Mountain Lion Award. In the 400-meter dash, Flint won her heat with a 59:93, less than a second slower than her personal record.

In the 5,000-meter run, senior and team captain Kelly Smith held on to her undefeated outdoor record with another victory. Her time of 18:38, however, was far from a personal record.

"I ran faster than that in my 10K," Smith said. She ran her 10,000-meter national provisional qualifying time of 37:09 on April 3, at the University of Northern Colorado, which was fast enough to make her the new stadium champion.

Close behind Smith was junior Tina Gray at 18:45 and sophomore Ashley Birger at 18:48. Their times earned them second and fourth place overall finishes, respectively.
Both Gray and Birger provisionally qualified for nationals in the 3000-meter steeplechase the week before in California.

Rounding off the women's pack was sophomore Sarah Shepard at 19:27 and junior Kari Samuelson at 19:37. Shepard can also boast of a national provisional qualifying time in the 3K steeplechase.

The Mountain Lions take a week off from racing as they gear up for the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championships in Fort Hays, Kan., on May 7-8. Those not running at nationals will have their training tapered to give them the chance to show off their strongest performances at conference.