CHADRON, Neb. – The University of Colorado Colorado Springs men's and women's track & field teams completed day two of the 2023 RMAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships on Saturday with the women's team holding on to their lead with 48.50 points and the men's team moving into third place with 39 points. Individually, redshirt junior Faith Novess posted both Mountain Lion podium finishes on day two, finishing third in the heptathlon and tied for third in the high jump.
 
INSIDE THE 2023 RMAC OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS
UCCS Men's Day 2 Score: 39 points – 3^rd place
UCCS Women's Day 2 Score: 48.50 points – 1^st place
Host School: Chadron State College
Location: Nelson Physical Activity Center | Chadron, Neb.
Elevation: 3,281 ft
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Saturday's action got started in the morning with Faith Novess and Maggie Remsberg competing in the final three events of the women's heptathlon. Novess went on to finish with a personal best score of 4,730 points that put her on the podium with a bronze medal. Her score also registered as an NCAA qualifying mark and moves her into second place all-time in UCCS history for the event. Remsberg also had a strong finish in her heptathlon as she recorded a score of 4,571 points to claim fourth place and nab five points for the women's team. Remsberg's score also goes down as a national qualifying mark but was just shy of her season best mark of 4,697 points.
• Novess kept her momentum rolling into the women's high jump final, where she made her second podium appearance of the day by clearing a bar height of 1.61m to finish in a tie for third place overall.
• Freshman Kyle Demos posted a strong performance in the men's discus throw final as he recorded a personal best mark of 48.53m to finish in fourth place and score five points for the men's team. His mark moves him into third place all-time in UCCS program history for the event. Freshman Michael Roberts also posted a personal best in the discus throw by more than two meters with a toss of 44.90m to finish tenth overall.
• The Mountain Lions had a trio of student-athletes record personal best performances in the women's 3,000m steeplechase, with junior Rachel Richtman leading the way for a sixth-place finish at a time of 11:06.94 to score three points. Scoring one point of her own was redshirt freshman Brooke Moss, who crossed the line eighth overall with a time of 11:38.88. Junior Nadine Almasri rounded out the UCCS competitors in the event with an 11^th place time of 11:51.46.
• In the men's 3,000m steeplechase, redshirt freshman Jack Donze was the lone Mountain Lion in competition but that didn't stop him from racing to a personal best time of 9:50.75 to claim an 11^th place finish overall.
• UCCS had an impressive showing in the preliminary round of the men's 200m dash as four student-athletes advanced to tomorrow's final. Redshirt senior Justice Mendoza earned an automatic qualification to the final by winning heat three at a time of 21.43s, while Kymani Sterling (21.27s), Brian Mosley Jr. (21.40s), and Mason Pastorello (21.68s) each finished second in their respective heats but qualified for the final with times that ranked among the top eight in the field.
• On the women's side of the 200m preliminary round, junior Keyanda Bolton cruised to a victory in heat three of the competition as she posted the second-fastest time overall in the field to claim an automatic qualification for the final.
• UCCS had a pair of student-athletes advance through the preliminary round of the women's 100m hurdles as junior Melissa Moreni and Remsberg took the top two spots in heat one to earn the automatic qualifications to the final. Moreni clocked a national qualifying time of 14.03s that also ranked second overall in the preliminary field, while Remsberg notched a time of 15.09s.
• After qualifying for the 1500m final during yesterday's action, junior Kate Hedlund was back on the track today in the preliminary round of the women's 800m as she went on to place second in her heat and earn another automatic qualification for tomorrow's final with a time of 2:13.13.
• In the men's 800m dash, UCCS saw a pair of personal best performances as Joseph Hamilton notched an 11^th place time of 1:55.67 and Adam Maal crossed the line in 16^th place at a time of 1:58.99.

DAY TWO STANDINGS (MEN) – 7 EVENTS SCORED

1. Colorado School of Mines – 65 points
2. Western Colorado – 45 points
3. UCCS – 39 points
4. CSU Pueblo – 29 points
5. Chadron State – 22 points
6. South Dakota Mines – 20 points
7. Colorado Mesa – 19 points
8. Adams State – 18 points
9. Black Hills State – 14 points
10. MSU Denver – 2 points
11. Colorado Christian – 0 points
12. Fort Lewis – 0 points
13. Westminster – 0 points

DAY TWO STANDINGS (WOMEN) – 8 EVENTS SCORED

1. UCCS – 48.50 points
2. Colorado Mesa – 45 points
3. CSU Pueblo – 41 points
4. Western Colorado – 38 points
5. Colorado School of Mines – 30.50 points
6. Chadron State – 22 points
7. Westminster – 21 points
8. New Mexico Highlands – 19 points
9. MSU Denver – 14 points
10. South Dakota Mines – 14 points
11. Black Hills State – 8 points
12. Adams State – 6 points
13. Fort Lewis – 5 points
14. Colorado Christian – 0 points

BEYOND THE RESULTS

• Novess currently leads the UCCS women's team with 16.50 points scored during this year's conference championship meet after posting a third-place finish in the heptathlon, tied for third place finish in the high jump, and a fourth-place finish in the long jump.
• Richtman's altitude-converted time of 10:58.63 in the women's 3,000m steeplechase registered as her first NCAA qualifying mark of the season in the event.

UP NEXT

• The third and final day of the 2023 RMAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships will kick off with the men's javelin throw final at 9:30 a.m. followed by the rest of the field events getting started at 11:30 a.m. and the track events commencing at 12:30 p.m.

 
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.