GUNNISON, Colo. – University of Colorado Colorado Springs sophomore Will Mayhew ran the second-fastest time in Division II this season while sophomore
Caleb Simons improved his 400-meter personal best by nearly two seconds as the two won individual titles on the final day of the 2017 RMAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships today. The Mountain Lions finished fifth in the team standings with 76 points, and placed three points out of fourth.
Mayhew broke away from the rest of the field with 300 meters to go, and held off the group in the final 100 meters for a time of 1 minute, 50.34 seconds. The altitude-adjusted time of 1:48.75 is an automatic qualifying mark for the Division II championships and he is second in the Division II performance lists. Mayhew is two-tenths of a second off the national leader. Three of the top five performers in the nation this season ran their time in today's final.
Simons won from lane seven by seven-hundredths of a second with 47.36 seconds on a late surge down the front stretch. He improved on his previous season-best from the preliminaries on Sunday by 1.68 seconds, and the altitude-adjusted time of 47.57 seconds is tied for No. 34 in the Division II lists.
Will Ross finished as the runner-up in the triple jump with 46-5 ¼ in a headwind after strong winds started to come out of the south. The indoor champion finished less than three inches away from the champion today as the top four performers all recorded their best jumps in the preliminary rounds.
Simons joined Chris Smith,
Tristan Hinkley and
Deshon Elcock for a third-place finish in the 4x100-meter relay early in the day. The Mountain Lions finished in 41.24 seconds. Smith earned All-RMAC Second Team honors with a fourth-place finish in the 100-meter dash in 10.70 seconds, and Hinkley was a second-team performer after a fourth-place performance in the 400-meter hurdles in a season-best 54.85 seconds.
Derek Valdez rounded out the all-conference performers with 6-4 ¾ in the high jump for a fourth-place performance. He started the event yesterday afternoon before multiple lightning delays forced the competition to be halted. Valdez finished a quarter-inch away from his personal best.
UCCS will finish the regular season on Sunday at the Colorado School of Mines Last Chance Meet. As the name states, it will be the final opportunity for the Mountain Lions to reach or improve on qualifying marks for the national championships later this month.
