COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – After day one of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs track & field teams have their sights set on two RMAC Championship titles as they lead on both the men's and women's sides inside Mountain Lion Fieldhouse.

The Mountain Lion women's team posted 53.5 points to take an 18.5-point lead over Colorado School of Mines, while the UCCS men's team holds on to a five-point lead with 51 points over Colorado School of Mines at 46 points.

The day was set-up nicely for the Mountain Lions as they recorded 12 points between the freshman Justyn Loper and junior Colton Homuth in the men's weight throw early on in the day. Loper set the tone with a gold medal throw of 18.09m as Colton Homuth was able to garner two points off a seventh-place throw of 15.68m to put the UCCS men on the board quickly. Sierra Suazo joined in on the action from the women's weight throw by adding five points by way of a fifth-place 16.36m mark.

Fellow freshman Harrison Huhn was not phased by the big stage as he vaulted his way to a silver medal finish that he shared with Western Colorado State University by posting a mark 3.85m. Dawson Hopkinson joined Huhn with a clear of 4.85m as he just missed out on a podium spot with a fourth place finish as Huhn and Hopkinson both notched provisional marks in the process to add another 12-point boost in the team score. Junior Brenna Kuskie stepped in to add a third UCCS provisional mark in the pole vault as she got caught in a tie with South Dakota School of Mines by posting a season best clear of 3.65m.

The Mountain Lions then transitioned into the jump pits where UCCS has been strong all season long, and today was no different. After breaking the long jump school record earlier in the season, Will Ross came out to break his own record while registering a provisional mark and becoming the RMAC Champion. An incredible jump of 7.45m tacked on 10 points and won the event as multi student-athlete Sam Repsher tore up the track & field and added a bronze podium finish of 7.04m in the men's long jump. Freshman Peyton Turnage tacked on an additional three points with a sixth-place mark of 6.87m to total 19 points out of the men's long jump. The women's side was no different as Hannah Meek was crowned RMAC Champion in the women's long with a provisional mark leap of 5.85m as the Mountain Lions swept the long jump RMAC Titles. Junior Kaija Crowe was just shy of a podium finish after jumping out to a mark of 5.73m to finish in fourth as Christine Bailey solidified sixth place with a mark of 5.56m.

While producing 18 points from the long jump, the women's team came in to also dominate the pentathlon as 19 combined points were gathered from a gold medal finish from Crowe (3,618 points) and fifth place through seventh place finishes from Maggie Remsberg (3,186 points), Faith Novess (3,177 points), and Ella McKinna-Worrell (3,163 points) respectively.

On the track, just two events were final with the 5000m and DMR where the Mountain Lions picked up some key points on Friday night. Sophomore Afeworki Zeru clocked a raw time of 14:57.68 to record four points off the fifth-place finish as Hannah Ellis and Jenny Smith registered times of 18:55.15 and 19:22.35 for sixth and eighth-place respectively. A pair of fifth place finishes came UCCS' way through the DMR as the men's team timed in at 10:21.83 and the women's team finishing in 12:49.09.

Prelims were held in four other track events today as 20 final spots will be represented by the black and gold heading into championship Sunday. Senior Charlie Forbes led the way in the men's 60m hurdles as the defending national champion breezed into the final race with a top time of 7.96s as Matt Hanson and Zaire Jackson notched the fifth (8.37s) and sixth (8.40s) fastest times to advance into Saturday. The Mountain Lions were tight knit in the women's 60m hurdles as they fill three of the eight final spots with Crowe, Terra Valadez, and Cameron Tracy claiming the fifth (9.157), sixth (9.159), and seventh (9.160) fastest times respectively.

Senior Deshon Elcock (6.81s) and junior Kayla Zink (7.59s) are gunning for the RMAC Title in the men's and women's 60m as they sprinted to the fastest prelim times to automatically qualify for the final race. Repsher will also be competing on Sunday in the 60m final as the sophomore raced to the fourth fastest time of 6.85s with Kayla Waterman (7.70s) and Brittany Fuchs (7.73s) working their way into the women's 60m final.

Following the top men's 60m prelim time, Elcock threw in the top 200m prelim time of 22.25s as well. Sophomore Angel Laca stayed busy on Friday by registering the fastest prelim time in the men's 400m while running to the second fastest time in the 200m to earn himself two final races on Saturday. For the men's 200m, junior Darrien Wells joins Elcock and Laca by beating out 15 other sprinters for the number three spot with a time of 22.37s.

In the women's 400m, Dejah Glover represents the Mountain Lions in Saturday's final after coasting in at a time of 58.63s for the fastest time in the race. As for the women's 200m, four the eight finalists will bear the Mountain Lion logo as Fuchs and Glover tied for third (25.51s), Zink finishing with the fifth fastest time (25.53s), and Waterman taking the final spot at a time of 25.81s.

On top of earning a podium spot in the men's long jump and racing in the men's 60m final, Repsher is also in the running for the men's heptathlon as he currently holds down third place with 2,907 points as he trails Colorado Mesa University's Spencer Jahr (2,966 points) by only 59 points with three events left heading into Saturday.

With the lead in hand on both sides, the Mountain Lions will look to maintain the edge as they set their focus on championship Sunday. Men's heptathlon will start the day off with the 60m hurdles at 10 a.m., followed by the men's shot put, women's triple jump and women's high jump at 11 a.m. in the Mountain Lion Fieldhouse.