PUEBLO, Colo. – The University of Colorado Colorado Springs track and field team combines for 13 national qualifying marks, including 11 top-15 Division II times and marks at the CSU Pueblo Spank Blasing Invite on Friday and Saturday.
 
INSIDE THE CSU PUEBLO SPANK BLASING INVITE: 
Location: Neta and Eddie DeRose ThunderBowl | Pueblo, Colo.
Elevation: 4,848 ft.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
• Day one was for the UCCS throwers as Caroline Walters recorded a second place finish in the women's javelin with a throw of 36.03m as redshirt freshman Kamryn Bohlken came in fourth with a mark of 29.36m. Freshman Thorben Hast was the top finisher in the men's javelin after a throw of 53.39m put him in fifth place. UCCS went on to record a pair of eighth place finishes in the hammer throw to end day one as redshirt freshman Justyn Loper recorded a mark of 55.17m for the top Division II mark in the event and redshirt freshman Anna Holland throwing to a mark of 49.86m.
• The UCCS distance runners started day two with redshirt sophomores Afewerki Zeru and Evan Graff, as well as redshirt junior Matthew Schramm notching their first provisional qualifying marks of the season in the 5000m. Zeru was the top DII finisher after clocking a lightning fast time of 14:01.46 as Graff came in sixth with his national qualifying time of 14:24.30. Schramm came in 10^th as he ran a new PR of 14:51.90, and a converted time of 14:29.15. Fellow redshirt sophomore Hannah Ellis ran to the fastest Mountain Lion finish in the women's 5000m by running to a second place time of 18:10.80.
• Redshirt senior Layla Almasri kept the top times coming as she added her name to the national qualifying list with a converted 1500m time of 4:27.53, giving Almasri her first provisional time of the season. Redshirt freshman Riley McGrath also joined in on the provisional times to give UCCS their second national time in the event after finishing in 4:29.87 for sixth place. Almasri and McGrath then made another appearance on the day by racing in the 800m where Almasri finished sixth at a time of 2:14.73 and McGrath taking eighth place with a time of 2:16.54.
• At the hurdles, freshman Melissa Moreni ran out of her shoes to clock a new school record in the women's 100m hurdles by racing to the fastest DII time and a third place time of 14.57s. Three more Mountain Lions worked their way inside the top-10 in the event as Cameron Tracy, Maggie Remsberg, and Terra Valadez finished in sixth, ninth, and 10^th place respectively. Redshirt freshman Zaire Jackson came to register a 10^th place finish in the men's 110m hurdles with a time of 15.30s. In the 400m hurdles, redshirt freshman Dillon Andrews was the top Mountain Lion in the event as he ran down the track in 54.69s. For the woman's 400m hurdle, five of the top-10 finishes wore the black and gold as Grace Wenham (1:04.57), Diana Reynolds (1:04.69), Cameron Tracy (1:04.89), Maggie Remsberg (1:06.410), and Jalen Jordan (1:06.53) ran to finishes of third, fifth, sixth, eighth, and ninth respectively.
• Freshman Ashley Benton and redshirt junior Dejah Glover each ran to a top-5 time in the women's 400m as Benton ran to a PR of 57.87s for second place and Glover running to a fourth place time of 58.33s. Two more top-10 finishes came UCCS' way in the men's 400m with freshman Isaiah Escalante clocking a PR of 48.68s for fourth place and Hast finish in sixth with a time of 49.51s.
• In the sprints, redshirt junior Kayla Zink competed in her first race of the season as she sprinted to a third place time of 11.97s in the 100m as redshirt sophomore Brittany Fuchs finished behind Zink with a time of 12.18s, good for sixth place. Later in the day, Zink and Fuchs each improved on their finishes as Zink topped the Division I and II competition in the 200m by clocking a first place time of 29.94s as Fuchs was right on the heels of Zink with a second place finish of 25.10s.
• The men's 200m saw Justice Mendoza best the competition as he improves on his national qualifying time by clocking an impressive provisional time of 21.17s.
• At the men's pole vault, Dawson Hopkinson started the outdoor season with a PR of 5.06m to provisionally qualify for nationals and win the event over DI and DII competition.
• In day two of throws, redshirt senior Colton Homuth heaved an eighth place mark of 15.37m in the shot put as Emily Arseneau registered a mark of 13.13m to move into seventh place in the women's shot put.
• In the jumps events, the provisional marks came flooding in as redshirt junior Peter Ackah leaped to a third place finish in the long jump with a mark of 7.26m and the top UCCS finish in the event. Later in the triple jump, two more provisional marks were posted as Will Ross and Dakota Abbott recorded second and third place with marks of 14.95m and 14.91m respectively. In the men's high jump redshirt senior Tanner Walsh bested the field of competition with a provisional mark of 2.06m as Skye Ciccarelli added his second provisional mark of the outdoor season with a mark of 2.00m.
• For the women, it was Christine Bailey who recorded the top UCCS finish in the long jump as she registered a mark of 5.76m to take fifth in the event. Lydia Pavlenko was found all over the field on Saturday as she registered a fifth place finish in the women's high jump with a mark of 1.55m, third place finish in the triple jump with a provisional mark of 12.05m, and an eight place mark of 5.58m in the long jump.

BEYOND THE RESULTS:
• Justice Mendoza sits atop Division II with the fastest time in the men's 200m.
• Afewerki Zeru, Evan Graff, and Matthew Schram hold the second, 10^th, and 13^th fastest 5000m times in Division II, respectively.
• Jumps student-athletes Will Ross and Dakota Abbott hold the third and fourth best marks in DII. Meanwhile Peter Ackah posted the ninth best long jump mark in the country as Lydia Pavlenko registered the sixth best women's triple mark within Division II.
• Dawson Hopkinson vaulted to the sixth best mark in the nation.
• Distance runners Layla Almasri and Riley McGrath clocked the third and 10^th fastest 5000m times in DII.

UP NEXT:
UCCS Track & Field heads south to West Texas A&M University for the Joe Meaker Classic & Multi in El Paso Texas on Friday, Apr. 2 and Saturday, Apr. 3.
 
SOCIAL:
Twitter – @GoMountainLions
Instagram – @gomountainlions 
Facebook – Go Mountain Lions
 
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.