GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – The University of Colorado Colorado Springs track & field teams continue to post strong performances and rewrite the school record book with eight national qualifying marks marks and five event wins on day two of the Maverick Multi and Open, hosted by Colorado Mesa University.
 
INSIDE THE MAVERICK MULTI AND OPEN: 
Location: CMU TRACK & FIELD COMPLEX | Grand Junction, Colo.
Elevation: 4,631 ft.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
• Outdoor junior Layla Almasri and freshman Riley McGrath picked up right where they left off on Friday by racing to first and second place in the 1500m as each of them improved on their provisional qualifying times. Almasri's event wining converted time of 4:26.56 set a new facility record at the CMU Track & Field Complex and set a new PR as McGrath's second place conversion time of 4:26.80 bested her previous provisional time by more than two seconds. Redshirt sophomore Evan Graff added to the national qualifying times by clocking the second fastest men's 1500m time in program history at a raw time of 3:51.21 for a converted 1500m time of 3:46.67.
• Three out of the top-5 spots in the women's 100m hurdles belonged to the Mountain Lions with outdoor sophomore Cameron Tracy besting the field of competition with a time of 14.74s. Terra Valadez and Alexis Carroll cemented their spots in fourth and fifth after racing to 15.39s and 15.87s, respectively. For the 400m hurdles, Grace Wenham worked her way into the top-5 with a time of 1:04.22 to give her fourth place.
• The women's 4x100m relay team of Keyanda Bolton, Hannah Meek, Brittany Fuchs, and Kayla Zink had another stellar outing on the track as the relay team won the event with a provisional time of 46.36s.
• In the sprints, Zink sprinted her way to second place in the 100m with a time of 12.05s as Dominic Haggerty posted the top finish for UCCS on the men's side by racing to an eighth place time of 11.06s. Freshmen Ashley Benton and Keyanda Bolton each added a fifth place finish on the day as Benton (12.48s) took fifth in the 100m and Bolton (25.48s) placing fifth in the 200m. After helping the Mountain Lions to an event winning time in the 4x100m relay, Fuchs came back on the track to take second place in the 200m by finishing in 24.74s, the third fastest outdoor women's 200m time in program history.
• Junior Peter Ackah notched UCCS' first field event win on Saturday after the Ghana native set a new facility record with his first jump of the day by recording an event winning mark of 7.16m in the long jump. Fellow junior Dakota Abbott also claimed the second place spot for UCCS after the junior jumped out a mark of 7.08m. Abbott then posted a third place finish in the triple jump by registering a provisional mark of 14.86m.
• After punching her ticket to nationals last weekend, Meek out jumped her competition once again with an automatic qualifying mark of 6.24m in the long jump, while also posting a provisional qualifying jump of 11.95m in the triple jump to take third and finish as the top Mountain Lion. More top finishes were registered by the Mountain Lions as Lydia Pavlenko took fourth place with a mark of 11.66m and Alexis Carroll placing fifth after a jump of 11.37m.
• In the high jump, outdoor senior Derek Valdez cleared a mark of 1.90m to take fourth place as Faith Novess matched Valdez's fourth place finish with a mark of 1.60m.
• The throws events continued into day two with Justyn Loper registering a provisional mark of 55.62m in the men's weight throw to win the event and set a new facility record. Senior Colton Homuth fell just short of an event win in the shot put but notched a second place finish as he threw the second best outdoor mark in program history at a distance of 16.24m. Freshman Emily Arseneau shattered the UCCS women's outdoor shot put record by heaving a distance of 13.72m to take third event.
• Outdoor junior Ella McKinna-Worrell was in second place in the women's heptathlon after day one and finalized that spot on Saturday by scoring 4,296 points of the top UCCS finish. In the men's decathlon, freshman Thorben Hast tallied a provisional qualifying mark by scoring 6,673 points in his first outing in the event of the season as he took fourth place and broke the outdoor school record.

UP NEXT:
The Mountain Lions' outdoor season continues next weekend as they travel to Golden, Colo. to compete in the Kit Mayer Classic on Sat. Apr. 17, hosted by Colorado School of Mines.
 
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.