NEW ORLEANS, La. – The United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced the South Central All-Region team for the 2022 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field season on Wednesday afternoon, with the University of Colorado Colorado Springs men's and women's track & field teams combining to collect 23 regional honors.
 
The top five individuals in each event from each region earned All-Region distinction, in addition to each member of the region's top three relay teams.
 
From the UCCS men's team, 12 student-athletes combined to garner a total of 14 All-Region honors across 11 different events. Redshirt junior Afewerki Zeru was one of two Mountain Lion men that garnered all-region distinction in multiple events as he finished the outdoor season ranked second in the region for the 5,000m and third for the 10,000m. Hurdler Chris Hudnall joined Zeru with a pair of all-region honors as he tied for the fourth quickest time in the South Central for the 110m hurdles while also racing as part of UCCS' third-ranked 4x100m relay team. Linking up with Hudnall in the 4x100m relay as all-region honorees were redshirt sophomore Brian Mosley Jr., redshirt junior Justice Mendoza, and freshman Kymani Sterling. For the second consecutive outdoor season, redshirt sophomore Dillon Andrews takes home all-region recognition in the 400m hurdles after racing to the fourth fastest time in the region. Clocking the fifth quickest 1500m time in the region was redshirt junior Evan Graff, who makes his first career outdoor appearance on the USTFCCCA All-Region team. At the long jump, junior Peterson Bohannon's season-best mark of 7.66m landed him in a tie for the title of top regional performer in the long jump and marked his first all-region nod as a Mountain Lion. Redshirt junior Dakota Abbott makes his third career appearance as an all-region recipient in the triple jump as he tied for the top mark in the South Central region with his season-best and national top five leap of 15.66m. On the pole vault runway, it was graduate student Dawson Hopkinson that cleared the third highest bar height in the region at 5.15m to take home all-region honors for the second consecutive outdoor season. Finally, a pair of Mountain Lion throwers came away with all-region accolades as sophomore Sawyer Christopher recorded the third ranked javelin throw in the region and redshirt sophomore Justyn Loper registered the fourth furthest toss in the region for the hammer throw.
 
On the women's side, eight student-athletes teamed up to record nine all-region honors across six different events. Redshirt senior Kayla Zink finished the season with a pair of regional accolades as she ranked fifth in the South Central with her converted 100m dash time of 11.54s while also joining up with redshirt sophomore Audrey Bloomquist, sophomore Keyanda Bolton, and redshirt junior Brittany Fuchs to run the second fastest 4x100m relay time in the region. After breaking the school record in the 1500m with her time of 4:21.57 at the Bryan Clay Invitational, sophomore Riley McGrath takes home all-region honors as the fourth best regional performer in the event. Sophomore Melissa Moreni was another Mountain Lion that turned a school record performance into an all-region nod, as she finished the season ranked second in the South Central with her altitude-converted time of 13.82s. With her monster long jump of 6.58m at the RMAC Outdoor Championships, redshirt senior Hannah Meek finishes the season as the top regional performer and earns her fourth career USTFCCCA All-Region selection. Rounding out the women's All-Region honorees was redshirt senior Lydia Pavlenko, who cleared a school record bar height of 1.72m to finish as the fifth best performer in the region.
 
The 23 combined All-Region honors marks the second-highest total in program history, trailing only the 2020-21 indoor season in which the team garnered 27 All-Region accolades.