Payne Earnes Provisional Time

Shannon Payne earned a provisional qualifying time for nationals and the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs sprinters made a good showing at the Air Force Invitational on Friday and Saturday.

Payne's altitude-and-track adjusted time of 18 minutes, 1.27 seconds was good for a third-place finish in the field, which was dominated by NCAA Division I runners. It also earned a provisional qualifying time for the national indoor championships, which will be held on March 11-12 at Boston, Mass. On the men's side, Levi Brathall also earned a provisional qualifying time in the 5,000.

"We are very excited to have so many good marks at only our second competition," said CU-Colorado Springs coach Graeme Badger. "The team made strong improvements in both the sprints and the distances."

"Having two NCAA national qualifying marks at such a high altitude shows real determination for our athletes."

Friday, a new school record was set in the distance medley by Ashley Birger, Sarah Shepard, Kaitlyn Marsolek and Tina Gray.

"The women's Distance Medley Relay ran well and was less than a second off a provisional qualifying mark for Nationals," said Badger

Also impressive were Tiffany Flint, Marsolek and Kelly Koopman, who all competed in the 400-meter dash. Flint and Marsolek posted the second- and third-best times in school history.

"It was good to see our sprinters get off to such a good start with only a short week of practice, said Badger.