COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The University of Colorado Colorado Springs track and field teams hosted and competed in the Colorado Running Company UCCS Open on Friday where the Mountain Lions continued to garner top national qualifying marks and times.
The Colorado Running Company UCCS Open is scored off points of 5, 3,2, and 1 in 15 events for first, second, third, and fourth place respectively.
INSIDE UCCS Meet #3
Women Day One Score: UCCS 107 points
Men Day One Score: UCCS 101 points
Location: Mountain Lion Fieldhouse | Colorado Springs, Colo.
Track Size: 200-meter
Elevation: 6,291 ft.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The UCCS multis student-athletes posted their first marks of the indoor season as the pentathlon and heptathlon ran on Friday with
Faith Novess finishing in the top-3 with 3,111 points. In the heptathlon, junior
Sam Repsher stays within striking range after day one with 2,752 points scored to sit in third place.
Sophomore
Justyn Loper threw his way to a national qualifying mark in the weight throw as he notched a mark of 18.44m to cement a provisional mark and event winning mark. Senior
Colton Homuth worked his way to a top-5 finish in the weight throw with a fifth place throw of 15.34m. The women's weight throw saw sophomore
Anna Holland as the top UCCS finisher with a heave of 15.45m to claim fourth.
The pits witnessed incredible marks for yet another weekend as
Hannah Meek led the field of competition in the women's long jump. The senior bested her current No. 5 mark in the nation of 5.93m by posting an automatic qualifying mark and new program record of 6.17m.
Christine Bailey also joined in on the action with a provisional mark of her own as she leaped to personal best of 5.79m to take second place in the event. Junior
Peter Ackah jumped to his third auto mark of the season in the long jump as he won the event on the men's side as
Dakota Abbott took second with a provisional mark of 7.16m and
Peyton Turnage grabbed fourth with a mark of 7.00m even.
As the jump pits heated up for UCCS, so did the track as four Mountain Lions qualified for the women's 60m hurdles finals. Freshman
Melissa Moreni led the pack with the fastest prelim time of 8.90s as
Alexis Carroll,
Cameron Tracy, and
Terra Valadez ran prelim times of 9.05s, 9.06s, and 9.19s to qualify for finals. Both
Zaire Jackson and
Angelo Hurtado will make an appearance in the men's 60m hurdles as Jackson clocked the fastest prelim time of 8.44s with Hurtado recording the eighth fastest time of 8.92s.
Times only got better for the Mountain Lions as senior
Kayla Zink ran her fastest 60m time this season by sprinting to a provisional time of 7.53s. Four other Mountain Lions will join Zink in the 60m finals on Saturday as
Brittany Fuchs (7.75s),
Shewli Ghosh (7.83s),
Audrey Bloomquist (7.941s) and
Keyanda Bolton (7.947s) ran to third, fourth, sixth, and seventh, respectively. For the men, it was
Brian Mosley Jr. who came out on top after prelims as the sophomore registered a provisional qualifying time of 6.86s with
Justice Mendoza (6.98s) and
Dominic Haggerty (7.11s) joining Mosley Jr. in the 60m finals with the fourth and seventh fastest times, respectively.
In the 5000m, it was
Hannah Ellis who made some noise in Mountain Lion Fieldhouse as the junior ran to a converted time of 16:57.17 to set a new converted school record and improve on her national qualifying time. On the men's side, graduate student
Branden Bohling won the 5,000m with a new personal best of 15:21.50 as
Matthew Schramm finished right behind Bohling with a personal best time of 15:23.45.
UCCS filled the top-3 spots in the men's 200m with
Justice Mendoza clocking the fastest time at 22.54s to win the event as
Isaiah Escalante-Garcia took second at 22.61s and
Angel Laca finishing third with a time of 22.72s. In the women's 200m, the fastest time of 25.40s was registered by junior
Brittany Fuchs as freshman
Keyanda Bolton claimed second at a time of 25.93s.
Day one was finished off with the DMR as the Mountain Lions provisionally qualified for nationals after taking first in the event. The DMR team of
Riley McGrath,
Grace Wenham,
Kate Hedlund, and
Layla Almasri raced to a converted time of 11:54.05 in their first DMR race of the indoor season.
BEYOND THE RESULTS
- Meek's auto mark of 6.17m sets a new PR, program record, and currently ranks as the best mark in Division II.
- Ellis' converted 5,000m time is the fastest in program history and is the fifth fastest time in DII. Her time is also third fastest in the RMAC.
- Zink's converted time of 7.53s currently ranks third in DII.
- Loper's weight throw mark of 18.44m currently sits at No. 1 in the conference and No. 18 in DII.
- Mosely Jr.'s 60m time of 6.86s is tied for the fastest time in the RMAC and tied for the 13th fastest in DII.
- The women's DMR converted time of 11:54.05 is the fifth fastest in DII and second fastest in the RMAC.
- Bailey's long jump mark of 5.79m is the fourth best in the conference and is 11th best in DII.
SOCIAL
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As a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs competes in 16 varsity sports in NCAA Division II intercollegiate athletics.
