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PREVIEW | 20 Mountain Lions Set to Compete at 2022 NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships

5/25/2022 2:53:00 PM

By: Tyler Tvelia, Assistant Sports Information Director
THIS WEEK'S ACTION
  • The University of Colorado Colorado Springs men's and women's track & field teams will travel to Allendale, Mich., to compete at the 2022 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships on the campus of Grand Valley State University on May 26-28. The Mountain Lions will have a total of 20 student-athletes taking part in the action for a total of 24 entries, including 23 individual entries and one relay entry.
  • Graduate student Dawson Hopkinson will be the first Mountain Lion in action on Thursday, May 26, as he will compete in the men's pole vault final at 12 p.m. (MT). The men's and women's long jump finals will follow in the field at 12:30 p.m. (MT) and 3:30 p.m. (MT), respectively. The women's 4x100m relay prelim will be the first track event that has UCCS student-athletes in action with the gun going off at 3 p.m. (MT). The Mountain Lions will also have athletes competing on the track in the men's 1500m prelim (3:10 p.m.), women's 1500m prelim (3:25 p.m.), women's 100m prelim (4:25 p.m.), men's 400m hurdle prelim (5:40 p.m.), and men's 10000m final (6:10 p.m.).
  • Friday will be a much lighter day for the Mountain Lions as they will have just four student-athletes in action with Hannah Meek starting things off in the women's triple jump final at 2:45 p.m. (MT). Kayla Zink will kick off the action on the track for UCCS in the women's 200m prelim at 3:45 p.m. (MT), while Chris Hudnall is set to compete in the men's 110m hurdle prelim at 4:35 p.m. and Melissa Moreni will race in the women's 100m hurdle prelim at 4:50 p.m.
  • The final day of the three-day meet on Saturday, May 28, will consist solely of final competitions and, outside of the field events and 5000m races, the schedule for the Mountain Lions will be determined by the outcome of the qualifying races taking place throughout the first two days of the national championship meet. Among the final fields that have already been set for the final day of the competition, the men's javelin throw will be the first to get started at 8:30 a.m. (MT) followed by the men's triple jump final at 10:45 a.m. (MT), the women's high jump final at 12:05 p.m. (MT), the men's 5000m race at 3 p.m. (MT), and the women's 5000m race at 3:25 p.m. (MT).
MEET INFORMATION LAST TIME OUT
  • The Mountain Lions competed in their final meet of the national qualifying period on Sunday, May 15, at the CSU Pueblo Last Chance Invitational and came away from the meet with a total of 20 provisional marks, including four that registered as new or improved NCAA qualifying marks.
  • The first of four new or improved NCAA qualifying marks came at the legs of freshman sprinter Kymani Sterling, who broke through for a provisional mark in the 200m for the first time this season with a school record time of 21.02s (21.09s converted). Sterling carried on with his busy day on the track to win the 100m dash with a time of 10.84s while also joining up with Chris Hudnall, Brian Mosley Jr., and Justice Mendoza for a national qualifying time in the 4x100m.
  • In the men's 1500m race, redshirt junior Evan Graff improved his status on the NCAA performance list as he clocked an altitude-converted time of 3:44.12 for a second-place finish that solidified his spot in the national meet.
  • Redshirt seniors Hannah Meek and Lydia Pavlenko posted strong performances in the women's triple jump, with Meek jumping to a season best distance of 12.34m that allowed her to sneak into the national meet as the No. 24 seed and Pavlenko improving on her personal best mark with a leap of 12.23m.
  • 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.
USTFCCCA NATIONAL & REGIONAL RANKINGS
  • The men's and women's teams each moved up in the pre-championship edition of the USTFCCCA National Rating Index released on Monday, May 23, as the women's team rose three spots and the men's team jumped one spot to both land at No. 14 heading into the national championship meet.
NATIONAL QUALIFIERS
  • UCCS qualified 20 student-athletes for the 2022 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships, including ten from each gender. They will combine for a total of 24 entries across 18 different events.
  • The Mountain Lions will be the only team with three competitors in the men's long jump and one of just two teams (Adams State) with a trio of student-athletes running in the women's 1500m race.
Men's National Qualifiers
Dakota Abbott – Triple Jump
Dillon Andrews – 400m Hurdles
Peterson Bohannon – Long Jump
Sawyer Christopher – Javelin Throw
Evan Graff – 1500m
Dawson Hopkinson – Pole Vault
Chris Hudnall – 110m Hurdles
Peyton Turnage – Long Jump
Daryon Wilson – Long Jump
Afewerki Zeru – 5000m, 10000m
 
Women's National Qualifiers
Layla Almasri – 1500m, 5000m
Audrey Bloomquist – 4x100m
Keyanda Bolton – 4x100m
Brittany Fuchs – 100m, 4x100m
Kate Hedlund – 1500m
Riley McGrath – 1500m, 5000m
Hannah Meek – Long Jump, Triple Jump
Melissa Moreni – 100m Hurdles
Lydia Pavlenko – High Jump
Kayla Zink – 100m, 200m, 4x100m
 
AWARD WINNERS
  • The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) announced the 2022 major awards and All-RMAC teams on Monday afternoon, with the Mountain Lions landing six major awards and 63 All-RMAC honorees, including 44 First Team All-RMAC honors and 19 Second Team All RMAC awards.
  • The Mountain Lions achieved a clean sweep of the major awards on the men's side with Afewerki Zeru being named the RMAC Male Track Athlete of the Year, Dakota Abbott being voted RMAC Male Field Athlete of the Year, Kymani Sterling taking RMAC Male Freshman of the Year honors, and head coach Ross Fellows being tabbed as the RMAC Male and Female Coach of the Year. In addition, Hannah Meek turned in another stellar season as she was named the RMAC Female Field Athlete of the Year.
SCHOOL RECORDS *All school record marks and times are raw/unconverted.
 
UCCS UNDER HEAD COACH ROSS FELLOWS
  • Head Coach Ross Fellows is currently in his fourth season at the helm of the UCCS track & field program after serving as the co-head coach for two seasons. Under Fellows' leadership, the Mountain Lions have experienced unprecedented success as both the men's and women's teams have broken through for their first indoor and outdoor conference championships in program history. All told, the Mountain Lion men's and women's programs have combined to win 14 RMAC indoor and outdoor team championships and 92 RMAC individual championships throughout Fellows' career at UCCS.
  • Fellows has coached four RMAC Freshman of the Year, seven RMAC Track Athletes of the Year and seven RMAC Field Athletes of the Year while having eight student-athletes earn RMAC Athlete of the Meet honors at conference championship meets. The 12-time RMAC Indoor/Outdoor Coach of the Year has also mentored five individual national champions and a total of 95 All-Americans.
WEATHER
  • The opening day of the national championship meet on Thursday is calling for a daytime high temperature of 74 degrees and a 60% chance of rain showers throughout the day. The wet weather is projected to continue into Friday with temperatures dropping into the mid-60s and a chance for 10 to 15 mile-per-hour winds. The final day of the meet on Saturday is setting up to be ideal for competition as the rain clouds will move out of the area, making way for plenty of sunshine and temperatures rising back into the mid-70s.
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.
 
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