COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The University of Colorado Colorado Springs track and field teams put their dominance on display on Saturday as the Mountain Lions tallied eight national qualifying marks and combined to win nine events in day two of the Colorado Running Company UCCS Open.

INSIDE THE COLORADO RUNNING COMPANY UCCS OPEN
Women Final Score: UCCS 263 points
Men Final Score: UCCS 245 points
Location: Mountain Lion Fieldhouse | Colorado Springs, Colo.
Track Size: 200-meter
Elevation: 6,291 ft.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The pentathlon was the first event to run and end on day two as UCCS had two student-athletes finish in the top-5 with junior Sam Repsher leading the way with 4,777 points score in third place, and freshman Thorben Hast claiming fourth place with 4,542 points scored in his debut in the black and gold.
 
After running away with the long jump on Friday, senior Hannah Meek followed suit on Saturday as she won the triple event with a mark of 12.27m. Lydia Pavlenko and Alexis Carroll followed Meek as they jumped to marks of 11.70m and 11.65m for second and third place, respectively. Pavlenko's second place triple jump finish was not her only performance of the day as she went to the high jump to post an impressive provisional mark of 1.72m to finish fourth in the event.
 
For the men's high jump, it was sophomore Skye Ciccarelli who was the top mark for UCCS with a clear of 2.02m, good for second place. Upperclassmen Derek Valdez and Tanner Walsh came to share third place with each of them registering a clear of 1.97m in the high jump.
 
Senior Colton Homuth and freshman Caden Showalter paired up to solidify second and third place respectively in the men's shot put as Homuth recorded a mark of 14.78m with Showalter notching his best mark of the season with a throw of 14.67m. Sophomore throwers Emily Arseneau and Anna Holland also finished second and third for the women's shot put with their marks of 13.00m and 12.47m.
 
In the sprint finals, the Mountain Lions raced to a pair of first place finishes in the 60m and a pair of second place finishes in the 60m hurdles. Senior Kayla Zink continues to improve on her 60m time as she topped the competition with a provisional qualifying time of 7.51s. The men's 60m final saw first, second, and third place taken by the Mountain Lions as sophomore Brian Mosley Jr. was at the helm with a first place time of 6.86s as Dominic Haggerty ran to a second place time of 7.03s and Justice Mendoza recording a time of 7.04s to take third. In the 60m hurdle final, freshman Missy Moreni and sophomore Zaire Jackson took home second with times of 8.914s and 8.49s, respectively.
 
The men's 200m was no different from the 60m finals as the top-3 spots were filled with black and gold as Mendoza won the event by clocking a time of 22.54s. Fellow freshman Isaiah Escalante-Garcia placed second by running the event in 22.61s as junior Angel Laca ran his way to a third place time of 22.72s. For the women, UCCS recorded four of the top-5 times with junior Brittany Fuchs claiming the top time at 25.40s. Freshmen Keyanda Bolton (25.93s) and Ashley Benton (26.40s) placed second and fifth respectively as senior Dejah Glover finished in 26.19s for fourth place. Glover then turned around to register her second top-5 finish of the day as she took fourth in the 400m by finishing in 58.27s. In the men's 400m sophomore Dillon Andrews bested the field of 16 student-athletes as he finished in 50.73s.
 
In the distance events, the Mountain Lions continued to register national qualifying marks as Afewerki Zeru and Evan Graff both clocked top 3000m times in the country. Zeru ran the fastest time in the event and broke his own school record with a converted time of 8:06.65 as Graff finished in 8:12.07 for third place. In the women's mile, it was Riley McGrath who notched a provisional qualifying time by finishing in a converted time of 4:54.75 to win the event. Freshman Kate Hedlund joined McGrath in the top-3 of the mile as she clocked in at 5:15.81 to finish third.
 
Already a national qualifier in the women's mile and 3000m, senior Layla Almasri added a third provisional time to her 2020-21 resume by racing to an event winning time of 2:13.93 in the 800m.
 
Additionally, senior Dawson Hopkinson added into UCCS' national qualifying marks by vaulting to provisional mark of 4.87m to finish third in the men's pole vault on Friday.
 
 
BEYOND THE RESULTS

• Zink's converted 60m time of 7.51s currently ranks third in DII.
• Almasri's converted 800m time is the 13^th fastest time in DII
• McGrath's converted 3000m time ranks 16^th in DII
• Afewerki's 3000m converted time is the 12^th fastest in DII with Graff's being the 20^th fastest. He also breaks his current converted school record in the 3000m.
• Pavlenko is tied for seventh in the country with her 1.72m high jump mark.

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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.