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Distance Team Headlines Strong Performances at CRC Mountain Lion Open, Colorado Invitational

1/29/2022 6:18:00 PM

By: Tyler Tvelia, Assistant Sports Information Director
Day Two: Distance Team Headlines Strong Performances at CRC Mountain Lion Open, Colorado Invitational
 
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The University of Colorado Colorado Springs continued their impressive 2021-2022 indoor campaign on Saturday as the team added six new provisional marks to their season tally while competing at the Colorado Running Company Mountain Lion Open and the Colorado Invitational.
 
INSIDE THE CRC MOUNTAIN LION OPEN
Location: Mountain Lion Fieldhouse | Colorado Springs, Colo.
Track Size: 200-meters
Elevation: 6,291 ft.
 
INSIDE THE COLORADO INVITATIONAL
Location: CU Boulder Indoor Practice Facility | Boulder, Colo.
Track Size: 300-meters
Elevation: 5,337 ft.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
  • The Mountain Lions began their day with a group of track runners competing in Boulder, Colo. at the Colorado Invitational among a field consisting primarily of Division I athletes.
    • Sophomore Brian Mosley Jr. continued his upward trend in the 60m dash as he won the race and improved his national qualifying time to an altitude-converted 6.76s. Freshmen Kymani Sterling and Justice Mendoza each claimed top-four finishes in the field of 16 athletes, with Sterling clocking in with a raw time of 6.90s to finish third and Mendoza coming in fourth at 6.93s.
    • The sprints team of Mosley Jr., Mendoza and Sterling came back to claim a second set of top-five finishes in the 200m, led by Mendoza who clocked an indoor personal best mark of 21.70s to finish second in the race.
    • In the 400m, freshman Ryan O'Neal added another top-five finish for the men's squad as he took fifth and established a new indoor personal record with a raw time of 48.80s.
    • On the women's side, redshirt senior Layla Almasri and redshirt freshman Riley McGrath each made their way onto the NCAA qualifying list for the mile race, with Almasri posting an altitude-converted time of 4:47.74 and McGrath coming in just behind her at 4:56.27.
    • The UCCS women's sprinters also joined in on the action as senior Kayla Zink and redshirt junior Brittany Fuchs registered top-five finishes in the 200m, tying for fourth with raw marks of 24.84s.
  • UCCS also had a large squad competing at the Mountain Lion Fieldhouse on Saturday for day two of the CRC Mountain Lion Open.
    • The UCCS distance team provided just a few of the many highlights on day two of the Mountain Lion's final home meet of the season, adding four more new provisional marks to the team's total.
    • On the men's side, redshirt junior Evan Graff and redshirt sophomore Gavin Harden took the top two spots in the mile race, posting altitude-converted times of 4:04.11 and 4:06.03, respectively, that pushed them both into the top-ten in the nation for the event.
    • Redshirt junior Afewerki Zeru made his indoor season debut in the 3,000m and made quick work of his competition as he clocked a converted provisional mark of 8:08.24 to earn the gold medal.
    • After contributing to the Mountain Lion's national qualifying DMR team last night, redshirt freshman Kate Hedlund joined Almasri and McGrath on the provisional list for the one-mile race, cruising to a first-place finish with a converted mark of 4:53.28.
    • At the throws events, redshirt sophomore Emily Arseneau broke her own school record in the shot put with a 14.77m heave on her fourth throw of the afternoon, before breaking it yet again with a mark of 14.84m on her fifth throw. Arseneau's mark also vaults her into the top-ten on the national scale for the shot put.
    • Across the way at the jumps pits, redshirt sophomore Audrey Bloomquist and senior Hannah Meek earned first and second place in the triple jump with Bloomquist leaping to a mark of 11.86m followed by Meek at 11.66m.
    • In the men's field events, redshirt junior Dakota Abbott won the triple jump as he hit a mark of 14.79m, while senior Dawson Hopkinson took second in the pole vault by clearing 4.90m.
    • The Mountain Lion women grabbed a trio of gold medals in the shorter distance track races, beginning with freshman Victoria Farinas, who won the 60m dash with a personal best time of 7.75s. Freshman Emaleigh Papierski added another gold medal in the 400m with a PR time of 1:00.98, while Michela Hewitt was first to cross the finish line in the 800m as she clocked a time of 2:19.85.
    • Freshman Joseph Hamilton and redshirt freshman Adam Maal continued to progress in the men's 800m, each establishing new personal records in the race with times of 2:01.09 and 2:01.64, respectively, to finish fourth and fifth.
BEYOND THE RESULTS
  • With his second-place mark of 21.70s in the 200m at the Colorado Invitational, Mendoza moves up to second in program history for the event.
  • The Mountain Lions have now accumulated 41 total NCAA qualifying marks through the first five meets of the season.
UP NEXT
  • UCCS will have next weekend off before they prepare to make the trip to Topeka, Kan., to compete at the Ichabod Mid-Week Challenge on Thursday, Feb. 10 and the Ichabod Invitational on Saturday, Feb. 12.
SOCIAL
Twitter – @GoMountainLions 
Instagram – @gomountainlions
Facebook – GoMountainLions 
 
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.



Day One: Track & Field Combines for Ten Event Wins on Day One of CRC Mountain Lion Open
 
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The University of Colorado Colorado Springs hosted day one of the Colorado Running Company Mountain Lion Open on Friday afternoon at the Mountain Lion Fieldhouse and managed to register ten gold medals while adding three new provisional marks.
 
INSIDE THE CRC MOUNTAIN LION OPEN
Location: Mountain Lion Fieldhouse | Colorado Springs, Colo.
Track Size: 200-meters
Elevation: 6,291 ft.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
  • The UCCS distance team put up a strong performance on day one of the CRC Mountain Lion open, as the women's Distance Medley Relay team of Layla Almasri, Kate Hedlund, Riley McGrath, and Alyssa Lopez combined to clock an altitude-converted time of 11:39.54 to take the gold medal and provisionally qualify for nationals.
  • Redshirt junior Hannah Ellis was the top Mountain Lion finisher in the women's 5,000m, claiming second place in the race with a converted time of 17:18.56 that moved her into the top-20 on the NCAA Division II performance list in the event.
  • UCCS also took the top two spots in the men's 5,000m race, with graduate student Branden Bohling placing first with a raw time of 15:47.49 and redshirt junior Will Young hot on his tail clocking in at a personal-best 15:48.77 to finish second.
  • The Mountain Lion's throws team also impressed on Friday afternoon, adding a pair of provisional marks in the weight throw on the women's side. Graduate student Sydney Marr came up just shy of her season-best mark with a heave of 17.19m to finish first, and not far behind her was redshirt sophomore Anna Holland who made her way onto the weight throw performance list for the first time this season with a toss of 17.12m.
  • In the men's weight throw, sophomore Justyn Loper grabbed the top spot, narrowly edging out the second-place finisher with a toss of 17.78m.
  • Back on the track, redshirt freshman Melissa Moreni kept her momentum rolling in the 60m hurdles as she matched her school record that she established last week with a first-place time of 8.61s. On the men's side of the 60m hurdle, sophomore Chris Hudnall also clocked a provisional time of 8.19s that was good for second place in the race.
  • At the women's 60m dash prelims, the Mountain Lions saw six sprinters qualify for the finals that will take place tomorrow, led by senior Kayla Zink who finished first with a 7.63s qualifying time. In the men's race, UCCS claimed four of the top five spots as Michael Nichols crossed the line first for the Mountain Lions with a personal record time of 6.98s.
  • UCCS added a pair of gold medals in the men's and women's 200m races, as redshirt freshman Keyanda Bolton raced to a first-place finish on the women's side at 25.49s while Nichols was the first finisher for the men at 22.89s.
  • At the jumps pits, Dakota Abbott and Richard Safoh finished in a tie for the top spot in the men's long jump at 7.11m, while senior Hannah Meek displaced the competition with a first-place mark of 5.96m in the women's long jump.
  • Finally, redshirt sophomore Faith Novess earned a gold medal in the women's high jump as she cleared 1.69m to come up just short of her season-best, while Skye Ciccarelli logged a second place finish at the men's high jump with a mark of 2.06m.
 
BEYOND THE RESULTS
  • Holland's weight throw mark of 17.12m ranks as the third furthest mark in UCCS program history.
  • Bolton's gold-medal time of 25.49s in the 200m moves her into the UCCS top-five as the third fastest time in UCCS history.
 
UP NEXT
•             The Mountain Lions will compete in day two of the CRC Mountain Lion Open tomorrow at the Mountain Lion Fieldhouse, while also sending a split-squad of student-athletes to Boulder, Colo., to compete in track events at the Colorado Invitational.
 
SOCIAL
Twitter – @GoMountainLions 
Instagram – @gomountainlions
Facebook – GoMountainLions 
 
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.
 
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