COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – In dominating fashion, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs track & field teams are crowned Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Indoor Track & Field Champions after a stellar day two inside Mountain Lion Fieldhouse on Saturday.

After leading by just five points on the men's side (51 points) and 13.5 points on the women's side (53.50 points) on Friday, the Mountain Lion women went off to score 103 points on Saturday as the men's team posted 104.16 points to finish with 158.50 and 157.66 points respectively. Colorado School of Mines finished in second place on both sides as the Orediggers scored 105 points on the men's team while the women's team scored 93.50 points.

The Mountain Lions kept their foot on the gas pedal and never looked back as UCCS had 16 podium finishes including six individual RMAC Champions on Saturday.

It didn't take long for the Mountain Lions to make their presence felt as Charlie Forbes cruised to gold medal finish at a time of 7.95s in the men's 60m hurdles to provisionally qualify for nationals, ranking him eighth in Division II. Senior Matt Hanson also claimed a podium spot in the 60m hurdles as he posted a PR and a silver medal time of 8.23s. Zaire Jackson added a seventh-place finish as he finished the race in 8.59s to cap off 20 team points from the event. The UCCS women's team grabbed eight points from the 60m hurdles as Cameron Tracy had the top UCCS time with a fourth-place PR finish of 9.09s while Terra Valadez took seventh (9.16s) and Kaija Crowe took eighth (10.50s).

Once the hurdles were off the track, UCCS flipped the switch to notch two more podium finishes in the 60m as Deshon Elcock cemented an RMAC Title on the men's side at a time of 6.80s as Kayla Zink finished in 7.65s to take bronze in the event. Multis student-athlete Sam Repsher posted strong marks and times for the second consecutive day as the sophomore finished the 60m in 6.99s to finish in seventh as he also recorded a provisional mark and top-5 finish in the heptathlon with a PR of 5,223 points for fourth place. Sophomores Kayla Waterman and Brittany Fuchs made their way into the 60m final as they combined for four points on Saturday with a sixth (7.73s) and eighth place (7.84s) finish respectively.

Off the track, the Mountain Lions continued to record top-8 finishes and tally points as freshman Faith Novess jumped her way to gold in the women's high jump off a provisional mark and PR of 1.72m. Aleksandra Anderson cleared 1.58m to tie for fourth place with Crowe as the team gathered 19 points off the event. UCCS continued the impressive marks in the men's high jump as Tanner Walsh and Skye Ciccarelli jumped to a three-way tie in second place with Chadron State at a mark of 1.99m. In the shot put, three Mountain Lions finished in the top-8 to register eight points as freshman Parker Bays heaved a mark of 14.96m for fourth place, Justyn Loper throwing a seventh-place mark of 14.91m and Colton Homuth taking eighth with a throw of 14.90m.

At the pits, senior Will Ross stepped up to top the men's triple jump field as he broke the school record and came up just shy of an automatic qualifying mark as he leaped out to a PR of 15.36m for his second RMAC Title of the meet. Freshman Peyton Turnage faired well in the triple jump as he finished in sixth with a jump of 14.39m. Junior Hannah Meek also recorded her second podium finish as she took bronze with a provisional mark of 11.96m. Meek wasn't the only Mountain Lion to score points in the women's triple jump as Audrey Bloomquist registered a PR and fourth place jump of 11.81m to provisionally qualify for nationals with Miah Keller working to a seventh-place 11.62m finish.

Back on the track, the UCCS distance runners came ready to compete as the Mountain Lions garnered an incredible 23 points in the women's mile and nine points in the men's mile. Juniors Kayla Wooten and Maia Austin grinded their way to gold and silver podium spots with provisional times of 4:52.74 and 4:52.76 respectively as junior Layla Almasri clocked in at a PR and provisional time of 4:54.79 to finish in fourth place. Staying in the mile, sophomore Evan Graff earned the bronze podium spot after he finished the race in a converted time of 4:11.01 to register a new PR and provisional qualifying time. Senior Willie Moore helped elevate the Mountain Lions' score by adding three points inthe men's mile after finishing in sixth placewith a time of 4:24.22. Fellow sophomore Afeworki Zeru continued to impress on the track as he scored points in the men's 3000m by finishing in sixth with a time of 8:48.32 as Wooten also tallied a point in the women's 3000m with a time of 10:47.48.

With already a gold medal round his neck, Elcock once again showed off his speed by adding a silver medal in the men's 200m by sprinting to a time of 22.09s. Junior Darrien Wells followed right behind Elcock to claim his first podium finish as he raced to a third place time of 22.20. Sophomore Angel Laca came to add a total of nine points on his own by finishing in fifth in the men's 200m (22.30s) and fourth in the men's 400m (49.81s). On the women's side, the points and number of podium finishes kept increasing as Dejah Glover earned an individual RMAC Title by sprinting to a time of 57.35s in the women's 400m while also taking fifth in the 200m (25.50s). After tallying points in the women's 60m, Fuchs claimed her first podium spot as the sophomore raced to a bronze finish of 25.23s in the 200m. Zink and Waterman weren't finished adding on points for the women's team as they clocked in at 25.81 and 26.26 for sixth and seventh place respectively.

For good measure, the Mountain Lions tacked on six additional points as the men's 4x400m relay team of Dillon Andrews, Andrew Thompson, Justin Surovik, and David Higgins finished in eighth (3:27.90) while the women's 4x400 relay team of Erika Timbang, Jalen Jordan, Michela Hewitt, and Ashten Loeks finished in fourth (3:58.05).

On top of the Mountain Lions' two conference championships, Crowe was voted Athlete of the Meet for the third year in a row as the junior could not be stopped with 20.5 points scored and a gold medal finish in the women's pentathlon.

It was a great day to be a Mountain Lion as the men's team recorded their first ever conference championship as the women's team notched their second indoor conference championship.

"We had a full army in this war," stated head track & field coach Ross Fellows. "Our mindset was two trophies, one team!"

With two indoor conference championships under their belt, the Mountain Lions now turn their focus to the national stage with the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships scheduled for Friday, Mar. 13 and Saturday, Mar. 14 in Birmingham, Ala.