SPEARFISH, S.D. – University of Colorado Colorado Springs junior Chelsea Martus ran the fastest time in the preliminaries with an NCAA provisional qualifying time in the 800-meter run to lead the Mountain Lions on the first day of the 2016 RMAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Lyle Hare Stadium.

Martus won in 2 minutes, 13.22 seconds, and by more than a second ahead of the second-fastest runner. Her sea-level time of 2:12.79 is a national qualifying performance and the sixth-fastest in the RMAC performance lists this season. Melanie Diep finished second in her heat with 2:21.69, but placed No. 11 overall and missed the spot in the final. Martus will race on Sunday at 1:20 p.m.

Chantelle Fondren and Marah Guzman also qualified for the finals in 1,500-meter run early this afternoon. Fondren finished fourth overall and second in her heat with 4 minutes, 41.16 seconds, while Guzman finished No. 12 overall in 4:49.08 to earn the final qualifying spot in Sunday's 12:15 p.m., final. Makenzie Urban and Natalie Polei both finished in the top half of the field at No. 16 and No. 17, respectively.

Alicia Lawrence missed a spot in the finals for the 100-meter dash by one spot and five-hundredths of a second with a ninth-place performance in 12.51 seconds. Dana Shellhorn placed No. 11 in the 400-meter dash preliminaries in 1:00.60, and lowered her season-best unadjusted time by three-quarters of a second.

UCCS will return to the track on Saturday afternoon for the second day of the three-day championship meet. Sam Bauer will open competition in the 3,000-meter steeplechase finals at 4:30 p.m. Lawrence will follow at 5:55 p.m., in the 200-meter dash preliminaries, and Molly Klotz will defend her title in the 400-meter hurdles with the preliminaries at 6:20 p.m.