TOPEKA, Kan. –  The University of Colorado Colorado Springs men's and women's track & field teams registered another day full of stellar performances on Thursday as they combined for a total of ten provisional marks, 12 podium finishes, and three event wins while watching the men's 4x400m school record fall at the Ichabod Mid-Week Challenge in Topeka, Kan.
 
INSIDE THE ICHABOD MID-WEEK CHALLENGE
Location: Washburn Indoor Athletic Facility | Topeka, Kan.
Track Size: 200-meters (banked)
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• After posting provisional marks last weekend in the mile, the women's distance trio of Layla Almasri, Kate Hedlund and Riley McGrath were back at it again on Thursday with all three athletes posting national qualifying times once again. Almasri took the gold medal in the race with a time of 4:50.53, which fell just short of her converted mile time from the Colorado Invitational last week, while Hedlund and McGrath each recorded indoor personal bests and improved their national qualifying marks with respective times of 4:50.60 and 4:50.88.
• The men's 4x400m relay team of Dillon Andrews, Kymani Sterling, Angel Laca, and Ryan O'Neal earned their first provisional mark of the season as they established a new school record in the event, finishing the race in 3:15.02. Their first-place mark currently ranks as the fastest in the RMAC this season.
• Over at the men's triple jump, redshirt junior Dakota Abbott made an improvement on his national qualifying mark, jumping 15.28m to take second in the event. On the women's side, redshirt sophomore Audrey Bloomquist also finished as the runner-up with a provisional leap of 11.73m that fell just behind her season-best mark in the event.
• At the long jump pits, senior Hannah Meek rebounded nicely after fouling her first two attempts to land a 6.17m jump that earned her a gold medal and established a new facility record for the Washburn Indoor Athletic Facility.
• The men's long jumpers also fared well at the pits as Daryon Wilson and Peyton Turnage turned in top-five performances with Wilson jumping 7.04m for a fourth-place finish and Turnage going 7.00m to finish fifth.
• In the center of the track, sprinter Kayla Zink raced to a silver medal finish in the women's 60m dash as she crossed the line with a provisional time of 7.51 seconds. Freshman Victoria Farinas was not far behind Zink, establishing a new personal record for the second straight week with a fourth-place time of 7.70s.
• Redshirt freshman Melissa Moreni added another podium finish in the women's 60m hurdles, finishing second with a qualifying time of 8.72s, just .07 seconds off her converted season best. In the men's race, sophomore Chris Hudnall claimed fourth place with a time of 8.33s.
• At the throws events, Sydney Marr posted a provisionally qualifying toss of 17.35m in the weight throw as she took a fifth place finish in the event.
• The Mountain Lions received four more top-five finishes in the men's and women's 800m races. In the women's race, Michela Hewitt (3^rd, 2:17.95), Ashten Loeks (4^th, 2:19.49), and Liz Bindert (5^th, 2:20.40) each recorded indoor personal bests, while freshman Joseph Hamilton posted a fifth-place finish on the men's side while posting a personal record time of 1:56.25.
• Rounding out the field events were the men's and women's high jump, where Faith Novess and Lydia Pavlenko each recorded jumps of 1.61m to rank in the top-five on the women's side and Skye Ciccarelli cleared 2.00m to earn a third-place finish in the men's event.

BEYOND THE RESULTS

• After today's performances, Almasri moves up to second place all-time in the UCCS record book for the women's mile, with Hedlund now ranking third in program history and McGrath ranking fifth.
• Farinas' personal best mark of 7.70s in the women's 60m dash now ranks as the fifth fastest mark in UCCS program history. 

UP NEXT

• The Mountain Lions will have a small group of women's distance runners competing at the Seventh Annual Indoor Gorilla Classic on Friday, Feb. 11 at 7:15 p.m. (MT) before competing at Washburn University's Ichabod Invitational on Saturday, Feb. 12.

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.