COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Freshman
Kayla Wooten and senior
Chelsea Martus both ran top-20 times in Division II in the mile run and 800-meter run, respectively, to lead seven national qualifying performances from the men's and women's teams for the University of Colorado Colorado Springs at the New Mexico Don Kirby Invitational and the Adams State NCAA Qualifier.
LaChristopher Smith earned his first provisional qualifying mark in the 200-meter dash while running qualifying times in both the preliminaries and finals of the 60-meter dash.
Wooten was the top freshman and fifth overall among 41 runners in the mile run at the Don Kirby Invitational with her time of 5 minutes, 0.85 seconds. Her altitude-adjusted time of 4:54.30 ranks No. 18 in Division II and second among the nation's freshmen, and fifth in the RMAC performance lists with two weeks before the conference championships.
Martus and
Molly Klotz both placed in the top 10 of the 800-meter run in a field dominated by Division I runners at the Kirby Invite. Martus finished in sixth with 2:13.80 and Klotz crossed in No. 10 2:15.19 in national qualifying times. Martus' adjusted time of 2:13.05 puts her at No. 20 in Division II, and Klotz is No. 38 with an adjusted time of 2:14.43. Both Mountain Lions are in the top eight of the conference lists.
Aubrey Templeton rounded out the qualifying performances for the women in New Mexico with 10:16.51 in the 3,000-meter run on Friday night as the top Division II runner. Her adjusted time of 10:01.32 is eighth in the RMAC and No. 48 in Division II.
Smith led the Mountain Lions at Adams State with his first qualifying time in the 200-meter dash this season. He won his heat in 22.09 seconds and placed second overall behind a sprinter from Air Force from another heat. His time adjusts down to 21.82 seconds for altitude and track size for the fifth-fastest time in the RMAC and No. 31 in Division II. Smith was consistent in the 60-meter dash with 6.83 seconds in both the preliminaries and finals and ran the NCAA provisional qualifying mark for the fourth and fifth times this season.
Deshon Elcock won the high jump with six feet, seven inches, in a two-inch personal record. He is one inch away from the national qualifying height and tied for the third-best height in the conference this season.
DePree Kimber won the triple jump by nearly two feet with 47-0 ¾, and placed second in the long jump with 22-9 ¼.
Matt Hanson cut more than a tenth-of-a-second off of his 60-meter hurdle time with 8.44 seconds in the preliminaries and has the top time for freshmen in the RMAC with an adjusted time of 8.48 seconds.
Josie Eder matched her season-best in the pole vault with a winning height of 10-11 ¾ and
Kelly Chamberlain improved by six inches with 10-6.
Makenzie Urban added another victory for the UCCS women with 5:27.46 in the mile at more than 7,000 feet above sea level.
UCCS will travel back to Colorado Mines next week for the Joe Davies Classic Feb. 17-18, in the final meet before the start of the championship season on Feb. 24-25 at the RMAC Indoor Championships.
