SPEARFISH, S.D. – The University of Colorado Colorado Springs track and field teams are one day closer to repeating as conference champions after an incredible day two that resulted in more than a 40-point lead on both the men's and women's sides heading into the final day of RMAC Indoor Track & Field Championships.
INSIDE THE RMAC INDOOR TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Women Day 2 Score: UCCS 120 points
Men Day 2 Score: UCCS 122 points
Host School: Black Hills State University
Location: Donald E. Young Center Fieldhouse| Spearfish, S.D.
Track Size: 200-meter
Elevation: 3,592 ft.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Mountain Lions started off day two with a bang as the heptathlon wrapped up with 26 team points swinging UCCS' way. Freshman
Thorben Hast earned 10 points off 4,989 points scored and a gold medal. Junior
Sam Repsher found his way onto the podium as well with 4,907 points which was good for eight team points and a silver medal finish. Sophomores
Seth Richmond and
Eric Sierra recorded a combined eight points with fourth (3,997 points) and sixth place (3,841 points) finishes, respectively.
Sophomore
Afewerki Zeru added to UCCS' early day two dominance by breaking a facility record, setting a new converted school record, and setting an improved automatic qualifying time in the men's 5000m. His conversion time of 14:00.37 goes down as an automatic qualifying time, earned him the title of conference champion in the event, and resulted in 10 team points as
Matthew Schramm tacked on five more points in the event by recording a provisional time of 14:28.98 for fourth place. Junior
Hannah Ellis earned a spot on the podium in the women's 5000m after clocking a silver medal time of 17:38.05. Two additional points were scored on the women's side as senior
Marissa Kuik raced to a seventh place time of 18:17.63.
Junior
Peter Ackah led the conference for the men's long jump all season and Saturday turned out to be no different as he leaped to a conference champion mark of 7.45m. Ackah's 10 team points were joined by
Dakota Abbott's six points as the junior registered a bronze medal mark of 7.05m for 16 total points.
In the women's long jump, the Mountain Lions ran away with the event by scoring 28 of the 39 points in the event. An automatic mark of 6.10m gave senior
Hannah Meek the individual RMAC title as
Lydia Pavlenko posted a silver medal mark of 5.54m. The remaining 11 points were scored by
Audrey Bloomquist (5.47m),
Kaija Crowe (5.45m),
Alexis Carroll (5.42m), and
Christine Bailey (5.38m) after finishing in fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth place respectively.
Senior
Colton Homuth kept the podium finishes coming for the Mountain Lions as his heave of 16.10m in the men's shot put gave him silver medal honors. Freshman
Caden Showalter and sophomore
Justyn Loper ensured another four points in the event with sixth place (14.82m) and eighth place (14.17m) finishes respectively. On the women's side, sophomore
Emily Arseneau found the podium after recording a mark of 12.93m in the shot put to earn a bronze medal.
The Mountain Lions' success in the field events was far from over as they registered four podium finishes in the high jump. The women's team solidified second through fourth place with
Faith Novess claiming a silver medal (1.67m), Pavlenko (1.67m) claiming a bronze medal, and
Maggie Remsberg placing fourth (1.59m). The UCCS men was led by a silver medal finish by senior
Tanner Walsh (2.03m) followed by a bronze medal finish by sophomore
Skye Ciccarelli (2.00m), a tied for fifth place (1.95m) finish from senior
Derek Valdez, and a tied for eighth place (1.90m) mark by senior
Jaydon Lewis.
On the track, the 60m hurdles and 200m prelims saw 10 Mountain Lions qualify for Sunday's finals. Sophomore
Zaire Jackson and freshman
Melissa Moreni each won their respective heats to automatically qualify for the 60m hurdles as Jackson had the second fastest men's time of 8.34s and Moreni had the fastest women's time of 8.89s.
Cameron Tracy's time of 8.97s and
Alexis Carroll's time of 9.02s also qualified them for the women's 60m hurdles. For the men's 200m prelim,
Justice Mendoza (22.07s) and
Angel Laca (22.579s) clocked the third an eighth fastest times respectively. As for the women's 200m prelim, four of the eight spots in the final race belong to the Mountain Lions with
Kayla Zink recording the second fastest time (25.28s),
Brittany Fuchs clocking the third fastest prelim time (25.29s),
Keyanda Bolton recording the sixth fastest time (25.85s), and
Ashley Benton recording the last qualifying time (25.972s).
Day two of conference championships came to a close with the DMR. Both teams walked away with points as the women's team of
Riley McGrath,
Ellie Enderle,
Michela Hewitt, and
Layla Almasri finished in a converted time of 11:37.35 to be named RMAC Champions in the event. The UCCS men's team of
Gavin Harden,
Dillon Andrews,
Charlie Kieffer, and
Sam Nofziger registered three team points with a sixth place time of 10:27.99.
BEYOND THE RESULTS
- UCCS Men hold a 63-point lead over second place Adams State University (59 points).
- Mountain Lion Women hold a 73-point lead over second-place Black Hills State University (47 points).
- Mountain Lions post an incredible 15 podium finishes in day two including five gold medals, six silver medals, and four bronze medals.
- UCCS have totaled 20 podium finishes through two days of competition.
- Zeru's improved 5000m time breaks his own converted school record and broke the four-year old facility record inside Donald E. Young Center Fieldhouse.
- Zeru currently holds the 12th fastest time in Division II.
- Women's DMR provisional time is the fourth fastest time in DII.
UP NEXT
The Mountain Lions will be back in action for day of three of RMAC Championships on Sunday, Feb. 28 at 9 a.m. starting with the men's triple jump and the men's 60m hurdles final.
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.
