ALAMOSA, Colo. – The first day of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Indoor Track & Field Championships is officially in the books at the Adams State University High Altitude Training Center, as the University of Colorado Colorado Springs track & field program currently sits in first place for the women's team (55 points), and third place for the men's team (33 points).

The men's team is trailing Colorado School of Mines (43 points) and Western State Colorado University (43 points) by 10 points with the women's team leading the meet over Adams State who is in a close second at 53 points.

The Mountain Lions finished day one with seven podium finishes and seven provisional marks as 15 different student-athletes tallied points for UCCS. Kaija Crowe had herself a day, registering 18 points between two events with a first and second place finish on the day. The long jump is where UCCS did the most damage on day one of RMAC Championships, as three Mountain Lions on the men's side and three on the women's side went on to combine for 19 and 18 points respectively in the event.

The trio of jumpers on the men's side was led by Derek Valdez who jumped out to a provisional mark of 7.17m, taking second place, with freshman Dakota Abbott leaping to a third place provisional mark of 7.11m. Will Ross placed fourth (7.07m), just out of podium range, to put up five points for UCCS. For the women, it was Kaija Crowe taking silver with a mark of 5.93m, Jada Carr claiming bronze with a new PR mark of 5.84m, and Hannah Meek jumping to fifth place with a distance of 5.69m.

Sophomore Brenna Kuskie and junior Cooper Daniels started the day off for UCCS as they both notched top-8 finishes in the pole vault to put the first points on the board for the Mountain Lions. Daniels recorded a mark of 4.55m for seventh place and two points, as Kuskie finished in sixth (3.65m) with three points and a provisional mark.

Sophomore Kaija Crowe then came through with UCCS' first podium finish as she competed in the pentathlon, and finished first with a provisional mark of 3,458 points. Aleksandra Anderson and Ella McKinna-Worrell followed with top-8 finishes themselves. Anderson recorded fourth place finish and a provisional mark of 3,235 points, and McKinna-Worrell had an eighth place finish with 2,965 points. Between the three, that gave the Mountain Lions 16 points, which shot the women's team to the top of the standings where they remained for the rest of the day.

In the weight throw, both Conor Bertles and Sierra Suazo cemented their spots on the podium with monster throws, with Kelsey Calhoun also providing points for the women's team with a throw of 15.55m and a seventh place spot. Bertles threw for a mark of 17.49m and came in second, as Suazo threw for a mark of 16.29m which was good for third place.

To top of the events today, Hannah Ellis raced to a fourth place finish in the 5000m to add five points to UCCS' 55 points. The men's DMR finished fifth to bring the Mountain Lions to 33 points, with the women's DMR taking fourth to contribute another five points.

After a strong showing in the track events today, the Mountain Lions will be well represented in the finals on Saturday afternoon. In the 400m, four of the eight runners on the women's side will be repping the black and gold, including Skylyn Webb, Dejah Glover, Aleksandra Anderson, and Jalen Jordan. While Caleb Simons will be racing in the men's 400m final after a third place finish.

Kayla Zink finished with a top-8 time in the 200m, and a provisional time of 7.55 in the 60m prelims that won her heat. Zink will move forward to the final races, but she will not race alone in the 60m final as Amyre Ellis recorded a provisional time of 7.66 and Shewli Ghosh finished among the top-8 to race in the finals on Saturday as well. Deshon Elcock finished with a fourth place finish in the 60m prelims, and a second place finish in the 200m prelims to represent UCCS on the men's side, with Simons also competing in the 200m final.

Junior Charlie Forbes continued to post top marks in the 60m hurdles as he sprinted to a provisional time of 7.99, which also earned hime the fastest time in the prelims and won his heat. Crowe earned herself a spot in the 60m hurdles final with an eighth place finish in the prelims. 

Freshman Sam Repsher remains within striking range in the heptathlon with 2,674 points, trailing first place Colorado Mesa University (2,931 points) with three events left as he will also be competing on Saturday.

Day two of competition will kick off with multi events and field events at 8:30 a.m. Saturday morning, followed by the running events at 12 p.m.