COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The championship fields for the 2023 NCAA Division II Men's and Women's Outdoor Track & Field Championships were announced on Tuesday afternoon, with a total of 14 student-athletes from the University of Colorado Colorado Springs track & field team being selected to compete across 12 individual entries and one relay at the outdoor national meet on May 25-27 in Pueblo, Colo.
 
The No. 16 nationally ranked UCCS men's track & field team is set to send 10 student-athletes to the CSUP ThunderBowl for a total of seven individual entries and one relay entry.

• Redshirt junior Justice Mendoza earns a selection to the outdoor national meet as the No. 8 seed in the men's 200m dash with his season best time of 20.70s. For Mendoza, it marks his second career outdoor national championship appearance after he raced as part of the Mountain Lion's 4x100m relay team at the 2021 national meet. The Ramona, Calif., native will hit the track for the preliminary round of the men's 200m dash on Thursday, May 25, at 6:25 p.m.
• The UCCS 4x100m relay team also earns a qualification for the outdoor national meet for the first time since 2021 after they posted the 14^th fastest time in the championship field at 40.28s. Mendoza is set to run the opening leg of the relay and he will be joined by freshman Mason Pastorello, redshirt junior Brian Mosley Jr., and sophomore Kymani Sterling in the preliminary round on Thursday, May 25, at 5 p.m. Junior Michael Nichols will also travel with the team as the alternate for the men's 4x100m relay.
• UCCS will have a pair of student-athletes competing in the men's 1500m race as redshirt freshman Jagger Zlotoff makes his first career appearance at the outdoor national meet with the fourth-ranked time in the field (3:43.32) and redshirt senior Evan Graff makes his way back to the outdoor championships for the second consecutive year with the sixth-ranked time in the field (3:44.04). Zlotoff and Graff will get underway in the preliminary race of the men's 1500m at 5:25 p.m. on Thursday, May 25.
• An individual national champion in the men's 5,000m at last season's outdoor national championship meet, redshirt senior Afewerki Zeru once again earns a qualification to the national meet in the same event as he will enter as the No. 8 overall seed with his season best time of 13:51.47. Zeru will look to defend his title in the men's 5,000m final on Saturday, May 27, at 8:30 p.m.
• Graduate student Marcus Graham rounds out the men's competitors on the rack as he makes his first career appearance at the outdoor national meet in the men's 10,000m race. Graham comes into the competition as the No. 19 seeded runner in the field with his season best time of 29:26.98 and will hit the track in the event final on Thursday, May 25, at 8:50 p.m.
• At the men's triple jump, redshirt senior Dakota Abbott will make his third appearance in the outdoor national meet as the seventh-ranked jumper in the field with his season-best mark of 15.62m. A two-time First Team All-American in the event, Abbott will be in action at 5:05 p.m. on Friday, May 26.
• Junior Thorben Hast makes his way to the outdoor national championship meet for the first time in his career as the No. 10 seeded competitor in the men's decathlon with his personal and season best mark of 7,090 points. Hast will take on the first five events of the men's decathlon beginning at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, May 25, before completing the final five events starting at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, May 26.

 
The Mountain Lion women's track & field team will have a group of four student-athletes representing the black and gold across a total of five individual entries.

• Two of the four national qualifiers on the women's side will be competing in the women's 1500m dash, with junior Kate Hedlund making her second straight appearance in the national meet as the No. 7 seed in the field (4:22.83) and sophomore Anna Fauske making her outdoor nationals debut as the No. 20 seeded runner in the field (4:25.57). The preliminary race of the women's 1500m is set to take place at 5:10 p.m. on Thursday, May 25.  
• Fauske also earns a selection into the field of the women's 5,000m race, where she will compete as the No. 24 seeded runner with her season best time of 16:38.89. The start of the women's 5,000m race is scheduled for 8:05 p.m. on Saturday, May 27.
• After earning First Team All-America honors in the women's 100m hurdles last season, junior Melissa Moreni returns to the outdoor national championship meet for a second straight year with the No. 14 ranked time in the field at 13.72s. Moreni will compete in the preliminary round of the women's 100m hurdles at 6:35 p.m. on Friday, May 26.
• A member of the women's 4x100m relay team at last season's outdoor national championship meet, redshirt junior Audrey Bloomquist will make her first individual appearance this season as the No. 8 seed in the women's triple jump competition with her season best mark of 12.50m. Bloomquist will take her first jump at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 27.

 
The 2023 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships will be hosted in Pueblo, Colo., at the CSU Pueblo ThunderBowl on May 25-27.
 
 
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