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PREVIEW | Mountain Lions Set To Compete On The National Stage

3/11/2020 12:00:00 PM

By: Eric Mason - Sports Information Director
This Week's Meet
  • The University of Colorado Colorado Springs track & field teams prepare to compete in the 2020 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships on Friday, Mar. 13 and Saturday, Mar. 14 in Birmingham, Ala.
Game Coverage
  • Men's and Women's Heat Sheets, Live Results, and Live Stream for NCAA Championships can be found below:
  • NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships:
Last Time Out
  • The Mountain Lions dominated the field of competition at the RMAC Indoor Track & Field Championships as the UCCS men's and women's teams were crowned conference champions. The men's team won their first ever conference championship as the women's team won their second indoor title in the last three years.
  • UCCS had 22 podium finishes over two days of competition as the Mountain Lions came away with 10 individual RMAC Titles:
    • Junior Kaija Crowe walked away with Athlete of the Meet for the third consecutive year as she took gold in the women's pentathlon, finished eighth in the 60m hurdles, took fourth in the long jump and high jump. Crowe totaled 20.5 points and improved on her provisional mark in the pentathlon by recording 3,639 points.
    • Senior Will Ross swept the men's long jump and triple jump by winning gold in both events with PRs, school records, and improved provisional marks of 7.45m and 15.36m respectively.
    • Fellow jumps student-athlete Hannah Meek posted two podium finishes as she took gold in the women's long jump with a mark of 5.85m and recorded a bronze finish in the triple jump with a mark of 11.96m.
    • Freshman Faith Novess burst onto the scene by clearing a PR and provisional qualifying mark of 1.72m for first place in the women's high jump as she also added a sixth-place finish in the pentathlon with 3,177 points.
    • The woman's distance squad of Kayla Wooten, Maia Austin and Layla Almasri wreaked havoc in the women's mile by claiming three of the top-4 finishes in the event. Wooten led the way with an event-winning time of 4:52.74, Austin finished right behind her for a silver place finish of 4:52.76 as Almasri took fourth place with a time of 4:54.79. Each student-athlete improved on their provisional qualifying time after their finish at conference championships.
    • On the men's distance side, Afewerki Zeru and Evan Graff stepped in to produce impressive times to help the men's team win a conference title. Zeru ran a provisional qualifying time of 14:13.81 to take fifth in the men's 5000m as he also posted a sixth-place finish of 8:48.32 in the 3000m. Graff registered a podium finish in the men's mile after clocking in at a provisional qualifying time of 4:11.01 for a bronze medal.
    • Freshman Justyn Loper was the first podium finish and gold medal winner for the Mountain Lions as the throws student-athlete heaved a provisional mark of 18.09m in the men's weight throw.
    • UCCS men's team recorded a pair of silver medal finishes in the high jump as Tanner Walsh and Skye Ciccarelli each recorded a mark of 1.99m to share the second-place podium spot.
    • Sophomore Sam Repsher tallied 13 points on his own at conference championships by setting a new PR, school record and provisional mark of 5,223 points for fourth place in the men's heptathlon. Repsher also took bronze in the long jump with a mark of 7.04m and finished in seventh for the 60m with a time of 6.99s.
    • Defending national champion Charlie Forbes breezed to a gold medal finish in the men's 60m hurdles by clocking a provisional qualifying time of 7.95s. Senior Matt Hanson joined Forbes on the podium by coming in second place with a time of 8.23s to secure silver.
    • Senior Deshon Elcock claimed two podium finishes in his last indoor conference championship meet as the sprinter ran his way to a gold medal in the 60m (6.80s) and came back to finish the 200m in 22.09s for a silver medal. Junior Darrien Wells registered his first podium finish as a Mountain Lion as he clocked in at 22.20s in the men's 200m for a bronze finish.
    • On the track, UCCS' women's team had three more student-athletes walk away with hardware as Dejah Glover got it done on the women's side with a gold medal time of 57.35s in the 400m, Kayla Zink took bronze in the 60m (7.65s), and Brittany Fuchs recorded her first career podium finish with a bronze medal finish of 25.23s.
    • Freshman Harrison Huhn stood out for the Mountain Lions as he shared the silver medal with Western Colorado State University as he recorded a provisional qualifying mark of 4.85m in the men's pole vault.
Where They Rank
  • Click HERE to see where the Mountain Lions rank within the conference and where their provisional marks rank in DII.
National Qualifiers
  • For the Mountain Lion men, five student-athletes will make the trip to Birmingham, Ala. to compete in a combined five different events as four of the five national qualifiers are making their first appearance in the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships. Defending 60m hurdles indoor national champion Charlie Forbes returns to the national stage after improving on his 60m hurdles time at the RMAC Championships with a conversion time of 7.95s, entering as the number eight seed in the event. Senior Will Ross makes his first appearance in the indoor national championships after posting gold medal, PR, and school record marks in the long jump and triple jump this past weekend at conference championships. Ross qualified for both the long jump and triple jump with marks of 7.45m and 15.36m respectively as he currently ranks as the 10th seed in the long jump and four seed in the triple jump. Also making their first nationals appearance is Dakota Abbott, Afeworki Zeru, and Sam Repsher. Abbott joins Ross in the triple jump after setting a mark of 15.30m earlier in the season as he sits as the number five seed in the event. Sophomores Zeru and Repsher performed exceptionally well at the conference championships as they both improved on their times and marks to travel to nationals. Zeru improved on his 5000m time by clocking in at 14:31.81 to enter as the 17th seed as Repsher competed his way to the 14th seed in the heptathlon by scoring 5,223 points.
 
  • The UCCS women have eight Mountain Lions who have qualified for six different events as all but one student-athlete are returning back to the national stage. In the women's mile, UCCS is the only school with more than one student-athlete competing in the event as Kayla Wooten, Maia Austin, and Layla Almasri all blew the doors off the competition at RMAC Championships and improved their times to qualify for nationals. Wooten enters as the number nine seed with a time of 4:52.74 as Austin sits right on the heels of Wooten for the 10th seed at a time of 4:52.76. Almasri then comes in with a time of 4:54.79 for the 15th seed. The mile is not the only action that Wooten, Austin, and Almasri will see as junior Dejah Glover joins the three Mountain Lions in the women's DMR as the number nine seed after clocking a time of 11:39.28 at the Mountain Lion Open in February. Freshman Michela Hewitt will be traveling with the team to Alabama as she also joins the DMR team as an alternate. In the field events, Hannah Meek returns to the indoor nationals but will be competing in two events this go around as she qualifies for the long jump as the number three seed with a stellar mark of 6.08m, and the triple jump as the nine seed with a mark of 12.26m. Junior Kaija Crowe makes her third consecutive appearance at nationals after racking up 5,223 points in the pentathlon at conference championships to rank as the number 10 seed in the event. Freshman Faith Novess put on a show at RMAC Championships by winning gold in the high jump with a clear of 1.72m as she now makes her way to nationals as the 12th seed. Junior Kayla Zink receives the nod in the women's 60m sprint after clocking her provisional qualifying time of 7.56s seconds in December at the UCCS Invite.
  USTFCCCA National & Regional Rankings
  • UCCS Men's team ranks 19th in the nation.
  • UCCS Women's team ranks 14th in the nation
Records Are Meant To Be Broken
  • UCCS has broken eight school records this indoor season:
    • Justyn Loper – Weight Throw – 18.77m (61' 7")
    • Will Ross – Long Jump – 7.45m (24' 5.5")
    • Deshon Elcock – 60m – 6.76 seconds
    • Will Ross – Triple Jump – 15.36m (50' 4.75")
    • Hannah Meek – Triple Jump – 12.26m (40' 2.75")
    • Hannah Meek – Long Jump – 6.08m (19' 11.5")
    • Colton Homuth – Shot Put – 16.66m (54' 8")
    • Sam Repsher – Heptathlon – 5,199 points
Award Winners
  • Austin posted stellar marks on both days of the Mountain Lion Open as she ran a leg in the women's DMR and competed in the women's 800m. In the women's DMR, Austin helped clock the third fastest time in all of Division II at a provisional qualifying time of 11:39.28 to take first place and set the fastest time in the RMAC this season. On Saturday, Austin kept the good fortunes going as she posted a provisional qualifying time of 2:12.84 in the 800m to finish in third place and record the 13th quickest time in DII and fourth fastest time in the RMAC. Austin was named RMAC Athlete of the Week for the week of 2/12.
  • Abbott and the Mountain Lions competed in the Air Force Invitational where they were the only Division II school in a field of primarily Division I teams. Abbott did not miss a beat in his first competition of the new year as the sophomore leaped to a provisional mark of 14.83m in the men's triple jump, good for a strong third place finish. The sophomore would currently have the ninth best mark in the nation and third best in the conference after his performance over the weekend, but Abbott set a new school record with a 14.97m mark back on Dec. 14 that ranks him seventh in DII and first in the RMAC. Abbott was named RMAC Field Athlete of the Week for the week of 1/01.
  • At the Colorado Running Company UCCS Invite, Abbott walked away with a school record, PR, and provisional mark as he leaped to a distance of 14.97m in the triple jump for second place. The new triple jump school record currently gives Abbott the seventh best mark in all of DII, and the top mark in the RMAC. Abbott then cemented a fourth-place finish in the long jump where he recorded a mark of 7.08m to be named RMAC Field Athlete of the Week for the week of 12/17.
  • Meek had a weekend to remember as she competed in both the Mines Alumni Classic & Multi and the Air Force Holiday Open to win RMAC Field Athlete of the Week for the week of 12/10. In Golden, Colo., Meek began the indoor season with a second-place mark of 6.08m in the long jump that broke a school record, set a new PR, and provisionally qualified her for nationals. The junior did not stop there as she competed the next day at Air Force in the triple jump where she took first place with a mark of 12.26m that set a school record, goes down as a new PR, and provisionally qualified her for nationals.
UCCS Under Coach Ross Fellows
  • In three complete years at UCCS, Fellows has coached four national champions, 21 individual RMAC champions, three RMAC Freshmen of the Year, five RMAC Track Athletes of the Year, one RMAC Field Athlete of the Year, four RMAC Athletes of the Meet, and 24 all-region athletes.
  • At the helm, Fellows has helped coach 16 individual All-Americans who combine for a total of 30 All-America honors.
  • The UCCS woman's team have won their first ever indoor (2017-18) and outdoor (2018-19) track & field conference championships under Fellows' direction.
Upcoming Meets
  • The Mountain Lions will transition into the outdoor season as they travel to Fort Collins, Colo. for the Colorado State University Invite on Saturday, Mar. 28, hosted by CSU.
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