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UCCS Athletics

2023 RMAC OT&F Champs
Brenna Barkley/CMU Athletics

Mountain Lions Sweep RMAC Outdoor Championships For Third Consecutive Year

4/30/2023 9:33:00 PM

By: Tyler Tvelia, Assistant Sports Information Director
CHADRON, Neb. – The University of Colorado Colorado Springs track & field teams completed a sweep of the 2023 RMAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships on Sunday at the Nelson Physical Activity Center in Chadron, Neb., as the men's team tallied 180 points to defeat second place Colorado Mesa University (125.50 points) and the women's team recorded 130.50 points to narrowly outscore runner-up Western Colorado University (123 points). The Mountain Lions, who swept the outdoor conference championships for the third time in as many years, combined to post 23 podium finishes and eight individual event wins across the three-day competition.
 

INSIDE THE 2023 RMAC OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS
UCCS Men's Final Score: 180 points – 1st place
UCCS Women's Final Score: 130.50 points – 1st place
Host School: Chadron State College
Location: Nelson Physical Activity Center | Chadron, Neb.
Elevation: 3,281 ft
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
  • Sunday's action on the track kicked off with the 4x100m relay finals as the UCCS men's and women's teams both raced to conference championships in the event. On the men's side, Justice Mendoza, Kymani Sterling, Michael Nichols, and Brian Mosley Jr. teamed up to clock a raw time of 40.48s to narrowly edge out Colorado Mesa by just more than one-tenth of a second for the relay victory. In the women's race, the outcome was not nearly as tight as Audrey Bloomquist, Melissa Moreni, Keyanda Bolton, and Victoria Farinas combined to record a time of 46.16s to outpace MSU Denver (47.00s) by nearly one full second to pick up the gold medal.
  • Bloomquist continued her successful day at the women's triple jump runway, where she posted a personal best and school record mark of 12.50m to earn a gold medal in the event. Her improved national qualifying mark pushes her up to seventh overall on the 2023 NCAA Division II Outdoor Qualifying List. Freshman Kathryn Carroll also scored in the women's triple jump competition as she notched a personal best mark of 11.25m for a sixth-place finish.
  • The Mountain Lions added another individual championship at the men's high jump final as redshirt junior Skye Ciccarelli posted a season-best and provisional qualifying mark of 2.10m to bring home the gold medal. Cicarelli's mark moves him into a tie for 14th in the nation on the NCAA Division II performance list for the event.
  • Redshirt senior Afewerki Zeru put together a dominant performance in the men's 5,000m race as he pulled ahead of the group from the start of the race and maintained his lead to claim the gold medal for the event at a time of 14:18.72. His provisional qualifying mark fell just shy of his season best and was just over four seconds away from breaking his own RMAC Championship meet record of 14:14.40 that he established last season.
  • Mendoza, Mosley Jr., and Sterling were back in action in the men's 100m dash final and combined to score an incredible 23 points for the UCCS men's team. Mendoza and Mosley Jr. finished in a dead heat for the top spot in the race with Mendoza narrowly crossing the line first for the gold medal at 10.518s and Mosley Jr. joining him on the podium with a silver medal time of 10.520s. Sterling also had a strong race as he finished in fourth place with a time of 10.72s.
  • The trio of men's sprinters made their way back to the track one last time in the men's 200m dash final as they, along with freshman Mason Pastorello, combined to tally 22 points in the event. Mendoza went on to claim his second individual gold medal of the day with a time of 21.12s, while Sterling was not far behind him in fourth place with a time of 21.38s. Mosley Jr. was the third Mountain Lion to cross the line and the fifth competitor overall at a time of 21.69s and he was followed closely by Pastorello in sixth place at a time of 21.85s.
  • In the women's 100m dash final, Bloomquist, Bolton, and Farinas returned to the track and combined to score 16 points for their squad. Bloomquist paced the group with a silver medal performance at a time of 11.90s, while Bolton recorded a time of 12.10s for a fourth-place finish and Farinas crossed the line in 12.13s to claim sixth place overall. Bolton would continue her day at the women's 200m dash final, where she reached the podium with a third-place time of 24.88s.
  • After starting her day as a fill-in on the first-place women's 4x100m relay team, Moreni returned to the track in the women's 100m hurdles and went on to clock a time of 14.02s to earn a trip to the podium with a silver medal. Redshirt junior Maggie Remsberg also posted a season-best time in the event at 14.84s to finish in fifth place and add four points for her team.
  • Another podium finish for the Mountain Lions came at the men's 400m hurdles, where redshirt junior Dillon Andrews raced to a silver medal time of 53.79s to grab eight points for the men's team. Junior Thorben Hast also scored for UCCS in the event with an eighth-place finish at a time of 56.28s.
  • UCCS added 13 more points at the men's 1500m final as redshirt senior Evan Graff and redshirt freshman Jagger Zlotoff each turned in strong races, with Graff claiming a silver medal with a time of 3:52.64 and Zlotoff taking fourth place at 3:53.05.
  • The men's 400m dash group of Angel Laca, Sebastien Jean, and Ryan O'Neal also did their part as they combined to score 13 points in their event. Laca led the way for UCCS, posting his first national qualifying mark of the season with a time of 47.67 to earn a bronze medal. Jean was hot on the tail of Laca, finishing fourth overall at a time of 48.59s. Finally, O'Neal rounded out the UCCS scorers in the event with a seventh-place time of 49.12s. The trio would later team up with Andrews in the 4x400m relay as they went on to post a season-best time of 3:13.87 to earn the silver medal for the relay competition.
  • After posting personal best times in the preliminary round of the 400m hurdles on Friday, freshmen Skylar Hawk and Leyah Martinez continued their progression as they each posted another personal best in the final while combining to score eight points for the women's team. Hawk was the first of the two to cross the line as she notched a fourth-place time of 1:03.04, while Martinez followed closely with a sixth-place finish and a time of 1:03.73.  
  • Junior Kate Hedlund paced the Mountain Lions in the women's 1500m final as raced to a national qualifying time of 4:29.33 to take fourth place overall in the race and score five points for the women's team. Sophomore Anna Fauske also scored two points for UCCS as she notched a seventh-place finish with a personal best time of 4:31.11. Her altitude-converted time of 4:27.61 registers as her first NCAA qualifying mark for the event this season.
  • Just one hour later, Hedlund returned to the track to compete in the final of the women's 800m dash as she posted an NCAA qualifying time of 2:11.30 to claim a seventh-place finish in the race that was good for two points.
  • In the early stages of the morning, the Mountain Lions had a group of five student-athletes competing in the men's javelin throw final, and it was redshirt junior Sawyer Christopher that paced the squad as he made an appearance at the podium with a bronze medal toss of 55.56m. Seth Richmond (5th – 54.36m) and Joseph Hamilton (8th – 52.77m) also scored for the Mountain Lions while Thorben Hast finished just outside of scoring range with a ninth-place mark of 52.77m.
  • Sophomore Amber Davis was the lone student-athlete representing UCCS in the women's 400m dash final, where she went on to post a sixth-place finish with a time of 56.87s. Davis would come back later to join Bolton, Michela Hewitt, and Alyssa Lopez, as the anchor for the women's 4x400m relay team that clocked a fifth-place finish with a time of 3:54.81.
  • In the men's triple jump final, a pair of Mountain Lions scored points for the men's team as redshirt junior Peyton Turnage finished fourth overall with a leap of 14.38m and redshirt junior Peterson Bohannon claimed a seventh-place finish at a mark of 13.68m.
  • Not long after finishing the 1500m race, Fauske returned to the track in the women's 5,000m race and managed to record an eighth-place finish as she crossed the line in 17:25.32 to score one point for the women's team.
  • Redshirt junior Justyn Loper rounded out the scoring efforts for UCCS on Sunday with an eighth-place finish in the men's shot put, where he tossed to a season best mark of 14.69m.
FINAL STANDINGS (MEN)
  1. UCCS – 180 points
  2. Colorado Mesa – 125.50 points
  3. CSU Pueblo – 111.50 points
  4. Colorado School of Mines – 111 points
  5. Western Colorado – 106.50 points
  6. Adams State – 55 points
  7. Chadron State – 49.5 points
  8. South Dakota Mines – 23 points
  9. MSU Denver – 22 points
  10. Black Hills State – 18 points
  11. Colorado Christian – 10 points
  12. Fort Lewis – 3 points
  13. Westminster – 1 point
FINAL STANDINGS (WOMEN)
  1. UCCS – 130.50 points
  2. Western Colorado – 123 points
  3. Colorado School of Mines – 109.50 points
  4. Colorado Mesa – 102 points
  5. CSU Pueblo – 74 points
  6. Westminster – 51 points
  7. New Mexico Highlands – 49 points
  8. MSU Denver – 40 points
  9. Chadron State – 37 points
  10. Adams State – 28 points
  11. Black Hills State – 27 points
  12. South Dakota Mines – 21 points
  13. Fort Lewis – 15 points
  14. Colorado Christian – 10 points
BEYOND THE RESULTS
  • The UCCS men's and women's teams combined to record 23 podium finishes across the three-day meet, including eight gold medals, eight silver medals, and seven bronze medals.
  • The Mountain Lions also recorded a total of 19 NCAA provisional qualifying marks across the three days of competition, including seven that registered as new or improved marks.
  • Bloomquist was named the RMAC Women's Athlete of the Meet after she totaled 28 points with gold medals in the long and triple jump competitions along with a silver medal in the 100m dash. The Helena, Mont., native also contributed as a key member of the UCCS women's 4x100m relay team that scored ten points with a first-place finish.
  • Mendoza earned a share of the RMAC Men's Athlete of the Meet award as he was one of four student-athletes to score 20 points across the three-day meet. The redshirt senior sprinter earned gold medals in the 100m dash and 200m dash while also racing as the first leg of the Mountain Lion's gold medal 4x100m relay team.
UP NEXT
  • The Mountain Lions will head to the Air Force Twilight Open on Friday, May 5, as they attempt to bolster their individual national standings ahead of the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships taking place at the end of the month.
 
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.
 
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