COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The University of Colorado Colorado Springs track & field teams walk out of day one with four event winners and strong performances both inside the track and in the field.

Junior Hannah Meek was the first event winner for the Mountain Lions as she notched a provisional mark of 5.84m in the women's long jump. Fellow junior Kaija Crowe improved on her long jump mark for the indoor season by recording a leap of 5.80m to slide into the top-10 in Division II, while also taking second in the event. To help round out the top-10, Christine Bailey, Maggie Remsberg, and Oumaima Hilal placed fifth (5.36m), seventh (5.24m), and ninth (4.95m) respectively.

After posting a personal best and the seventh best mark in DII of 7.42m last weekend, senior Will Ross felt right at home as he posted another monster mark on Friday night in the men's long jump. Ross bested the field of 25 Division I and Division II student-athletes by registering a mark of 7.34m on his last jump of the night to record a provisional mark and secure the first-place finish. Just a little further down the list, UCCS had fourth, fifth, and sixth place decked out in black & gold as Peyton Turnage (6.82m), Brendan Young (6.75m), and Kweshaan Thomas (6.71m) filled those spots respectively.

The Mountain Lions' success in the field events did not stop there as Justyn Loper continued to impress with a second-place finish in the men's weight throw after throwing out to a provisional mark of 17.77m. At the high jump, junior Tanner Walsh was top Mountain Lion finish as he earned second place with a mark of 2.02m. Freshman Faith Novess matched Walsh with a second place fnish I the women's high jump as she cleared a mark of 1.62m.

Inside the track, UCCS had two student-athletes race to the 60m hurdles final tomorrow after Zaire Jackson recorded the fourth fastest time at 8.51s, followed by Matt Hanson claiming the sixth spot in the final with a time of 8.60s. On the women's side, three Mountain Lions qualified for the women's 60m hurdles final as Remsberg (9.13s) and Terra Valadez (9.15s) raced to the second and third fastest times, with Cameron Tracy finishing at 9.30s for the fifth qualifying time.

UCCS carried their momentum from the hurdles into the 60m sprint as the Mountain Lions represent half of the final field in the women's 60m. Junior Kayla Zink goes into Saturday with the fastest prelim time (7.59s) as Kayla Waterman (7.73s), Brittany Fuchs (7.84s), and Shewli Ghosh (7.91s) earned the second, fourth, and fifth fastest prelim times respectively. For the men's 60m, Deshon Elcock clocked in at the fastest prelim time at 6.92s as Brian Mosley Jr. had the fourth fastest time of 6.98s, and Sam Repsher taking the last spot in the 60m final with a time of 7.06s.

The trio of Zink, Fuchs, and Waterman weren't finished doing damage on the track as they claimed three of the top-5 finishes in the women's 200m. Zink recorded her first event winning time of the meet as the junior finished the race in 25.32s. Fuchs finished on the heels of Zink with a time of 25.37s to take second as Waterman finished in fifth place with a time of 26.06s. The Mountain Lions men faired very well in the men's 200m as second place through fifth place belonged to UCCS. Elcock led the way with a second-place time of 22.30s as Angel Laca took third at a time of 22.45s, with freshman Darrien Wells taking fourth with a time of22.71s in his first race as a Mountain Lion, and Repsher racing to a fifth-place time of 22.72s.

UCCS showed no signs of slowing down as the Mountain Lions eased into the distance events where the women's DMR team of Maia Austin, Dejah Glover, Layla Almasri, and Kayla Wooten registered a provisional qualifying raw time of 12:02.60 to take first place in the event and record the third fastest time in the country. In the 5000m, Mark Simmons and Matthew Schramm recorded two of the top-5 times in the race as Simmons took second (15:39.36) and Schramm placed fourth (15:43.13). On the women's side, the top-5 in the 5000m included two Mountain Lions in Hannah Ellis and Katie Novak who placed third (18:59.60) and fifth (19:02.62) respectively.

Day two of the Colorado Running Company Mountain Lion Open will begin at 11 a.m. on Saturday with the men's and women's triple jump, men's shot put, and women's pole vault.