PUEBLO, Colo. – The University of Colorado Colorado Springs track & field team sent a group of athletes to the campus of Colorado State University Pueblo on Sunday for the CSUP Last Chance Invitational and came away with a total of 20 NCAA qualifying marks, including four that registered as new or improved provisional qualifying marks.
 
INSIDE THE CSU PUEBLO LAST CHANCE INVITATIONAL
Location: CSUP Thunderbowl | Pueblo, Colo.
Elevation: 4,700 ft
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Freshman sprinter Kymani Sterling had a busy day on the track that was highlighted by a school record performance in the men's 200m dash where he finished second with a raw time of 21.02s. Sterling's altitude-adjusted time of 21.09s registers as a new provisional mark that currently ranks within the top 30 times in the country. The North Platte, Neb., native also competed in the men's 100m dash, placing first with a raw time of 10.84s, and joined up with Chris Hudnall, Brian Mosley Jr., and Justice Mendoza in the 4x100m relay as the group went on to post a converted provisional time of 41.01s.
• In the men's 1500m race, redshirt junior Evan Graff improved his status on the NCAA performance list as clocked an altitude-converted time of 3:44.34 for a second-place finish. With the improvement of just over half a second, Graff currently ranks in the top 20 in the nation for the event and is well-positioned to get the call as a qualifier for nationals.
• The Mountain Lions added a pair of new NCAA qualifying marks in the women's triple jump as redshirt seniors Hannah Meek and Lydia Pavlenko each landed season best marks with jumps of 12.34m and 12.23m, respectively.  Meek's leap registers as her first triple jump provisional mark of the outdoor season and vaults her into the top 25 in the nation for event, while Pavlenko improves on her existing provisional mark and currently sits within the top 30 on the performance list.
• Meek and Pavlenko were not finished with the triple jump, however, as Meek went on to add a provisional mark of 6.27m in the women's long jump while Pavlenko cleared 1.71m in the women's high jump to come up just shy of her season best national qualifying mark.
• The outstanding sprints duo of Kayla Zink and Brittany Fuchs registered another strong day on the track as they both raced to provisional marks in the 100m and 200m dashes. Zink was the top finisher in both races, finishing with raw times of 11.60s in the 100m and 24.04s in the 200m, while Fuchs was just behind her in second place for both races as she clocked raw times of 11.67s in the 100m and 24.18s in the 200m. Sophomore Keyanda Bolton also posted a strong performance in the 100m, registering a raw time of 11.98s that ranks third all-time in program history behind Zink and Fuchs.
• In the men's 400m hurdles, redshirt sophomore Dillon Andrews was the first finisher in the field of four competitors as he clocked an NCAA qualifying time of 52.91s but came up just shy of his season best.
• UCCS had a group of five runners competing in the women's 1500m race and saw three of the five competitors post provisional marks in the event. Leading the way for the Mountain Lions was redshirt senior Layla Almasri, who took third place with an altitude-converted time of 4:28.44. Right behind Almasri were Riley McGrath and Kate Hedlund as the fourth and fifth finishers in the race with converted times of 4:29.90 and 4:30.73, respectively.
• Four more provisional marks were registered by the men's jumpers as Peterson Bohannon took the top spot in the long jump with a mark of 7.42m and Dakota Abbott was the first-place finisher in the triple jump with a leap of 15.28m. Skye Ciccarelli was the winner in the high jump as he cleared a bar height of 2.09m, while Tanner Walsh took third-place in the high jump by clearing a provisional bar height of 2.05m.
• The final NCAA qualifying mark of the afternoon came in the men's javelin throw, where Sawyer Christopher launched a monster throw of 60.18m to win the event.

BEYOND THE RESULTS

• Pavlenko's triple jump PR of 12.23m improves on her second all-time mark in program history.

UP NEXT

• The championship fields for the 2022 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field National Championships will be announced on Tuesday, May 17, at 3 p.m. (MT) before the national championship meet begins on Thursday, May 26, at Grand Valley State University.

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.