COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – After posting national qualifying performances at the CSU Pueblo Open last weekend, the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) has announced redshirt senior Dakota Abbott and redshirt junior Audrey Bloomquist as the RMAC Men's and Women's Field Athletes of the Week for the third week of the Outdoor Track & Field season.
 
Abbott and Bloomquist mark the third and fourth UCCS track & field student-athletes to earn a weekly conference award during the 2023 outdoor season after Sawyer Christopher earned Men's Field Athlete of the Week distinction on March 22 and Kate Hedlund claimed Women's Track Athlete of the Week honors on March 29.
 
Abbott earns his first weekly conference award of the season and fourth of his career after earning a first-place finish in the men's triple jump at the CSU Pueblo Open on Saturday. The fifth-year jumper notched a season-best mark of 15.62m, which registered as an NCAA qualifying mark that currently ranks first on the RMAC performance list and third overall on the NCAA Division II Outdoor Qualifying List. Abbott's mark also sits just 0.25 meters shy of his own school record jump of 15.87m that he established at the 2021 RMAC Outdoor Championships.
 
After earning a pair of weekly conference honors during the indoor season, Bloomquist claims her first honor of the outdoor season following an impressive performance at the CSU Pueblo Open in which she recorded NCAA provisional marks in two individual events and one relay event. In the women's triple jump, Bloomquist leaped to a personal best and school record mark of 12.46m for a first-place finish in the event and a national qualifying mark that currently sits first in the RMAC and third overall in the nation. The Helena, Mont., native added another NCAA qualifying mark with a personal best jump of 5.88m in the women's long jump that was good for second in the field and currently sits second in the RMAC and 16th in DII. Finally, Bloomquist raced as part of the Mountain Lion's national qualifying 4x100m relay team that registered a first-place finish in the race with an altitude converted time of 45.96s. Consisting of Bloomquist, Brittany Fuchs, Keyanda Bolton, and Victoria Farinas, UCCS' 4x100m relay time currently sits first in the RMAC by more than one full second and is ranked No. 9 in the nation.
 
The Mountain Lions will have a busy weekend ahead as the sprinters, hurdlers, jumpers, throwers, and multi athletes will all head to Canyon, Texas, for West Texas A&M's Jo Meaker Classic on April 7-8 while the distance runners will travel to Golden, Colo., for Colorado School of Mines' Kit Mayer Invite on April 8.
 
2023 OT&F RMAC ATHLETES OF THE WEEK
Mar. 22                Sawyer Christopher – RMAC Men's Field Athlete of the Week
Mar. 29                Kate Hedlund – RMAC Women's Track Athlete of the Week
Apr. 5                   Dakota Abbott – RMAC Men's Field Athlete of the Week
                             Audrey Bloomquist – RMAC Women's Field Athlete of the Week
 
For everything UCCS Athletics, follow the Mountain Lions on social media and stay tuned to gomountainlions.com.
 
SOCIAL
Twitter – @GoMountainLions
Instagram – @gomountainlions
Facebook – GoMountainLions