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OT&F Nationals Preview

PREVIEW | Track & Field Set to Compete at 2023 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships

5/23/2023 3:00:00 PM

By: Tyler Tvelia, Assistant Sports Information Director
THIS WEEK'S ACTION
  • The University of Colorado Colorado Springs men's and women's track & field teams will make the short trip south to Pueblo, Colo., this weekend to compete at the 2023 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships. The three-day national championship meet is scheduled to begin on Thursday, May 25, and will take place at the CSU Pueblo ThunderBowl, a venue inside which the Mountain Lions competed in four different meets during the outdoor season.
  • Thursday's action will kick off at 10:30 a.m. with junior Thorben Hast taking on the first five events of the men's decathlon, followed by the preliminary races of the men's 4x100m relay (5 p.m.), women's 1500m (5:10 p.m.), and the men's 1500m (5:25 p.m.). Graduate student Marcus Graham will close the first day of competition under the lights in the men's 10,000m final at 8:50 p.m.
  • Hast will once again be the first Mountain Lion student-athlete on the track on Friday, May 26, as he will complete the final five events of the decathlon beginning at 9:30 a.m. A trio of additional UCCS student-athletes will also be in action on Friday, with redshirt senior Dakota Abbott competing in the men's triple jump final at 5:05 p.m., redshirt junior Justice Mendoza racing in the preliminary round of the men's 200m dash at 5:45 p.m., and junior Melissa Moreni taking part in the preliminary round of the women's 100m hurdles at 6:35 p.m.
  • The Mountain Lions will have a minimum of three student-athletes competing in finals on the third and final day of the meet on Saturday, May 27, as redshirt junior Audrey Bloomquist is set to compete in the women's triple jump at 5:30 p.m. while sophomore Anna Fauske and redshirt senior Afewerki Zeru will race in the women's and men's 5,000m races at 8:05 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., respectively. Pending the results of the preliminary races over the first two days of the meet, UCCS could also have athletes competing in the finals of the men's 4x100m relay (5:20 p.m.), women's 1500m (5:35 p.m.), men's 1500m (5:45 p.m.), and the women's 100m hurdles (6:05 p.m.) on Saturday.
MEET INFORMATION NATIONAL QUALIFIERS
  • 14 UCCS student-athletes were selected to compete at the 2023 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships, with ten men and four women set to participate across a total of 12 individual entries and one relay entry.  
Men's Qualifiers: Women's Qualifiers: 2022-23 USTFCCCA NATIONAL & REGIONAL RANKINGS
Week 1 (3/28):   MEN: NR (#5 South Central Region)
                           WOMEN: #21 (#3 South Central Region)
Week 2 (4/4):     MEN: #13 (#1 South Central Region)
                           WOMEN: NR (#3 South Central Region)
Week 3 (4/11):   MEN: #9 (#3 South Central Region)
                           WOMEN: #18 (#3 South Central Region)
Week 4 (4/18):   MEN: #17 (#4 South Central Region)
                           WOMEN: #22 (#3 South Central Region)
Week 5 (4/25):   MEN: #21 (#5 South Central Region)
                           WOMEN: #25 (#4 South Central Region)
Week 6 (5/2):     MEN: #22 (#3 South Central Region)
                           WOMEN: NR (#4 South Central Region)
Week 7 (5/9):     MEN: #18 (#5 South Central Region)
                           WOMEN: NR (#4 South Central Region)
Week 8 (5/16):   MEN: #16 (#5 South Central Region)
                           WOMEN: NR (#4 South Central Region)
Week 9 (5/22):   MEN: #16
                           WOMEN: NR
 
AWARD WINNERS  
SCHOOL RECORDS UCCS UNDER HEAD COACH ROSS FELLOWS
  • The 2022-23 season marks Ross Fellows' seventh season as the head coach of the UCCS men's and women's track & field programs. Under his leadership, the Mountain Lions have won a total of 15 RMAC Championship trophies (8 Indoor, 7 Outdoor), including the first indoor and outdoor conference titles in both men's and women's program history.
  • A 15-time RMAC Coach of the Year recipient, Fellows has coached a total of 93 RMAC individual event champions, eight RMAC Track Athletes of the Year, seven RMAC Field Athletes of the Year, and four RMAC Freshman of the Year. The Mountain Lions have become perennial contenders on the national stage under the supervision of Fellows, qualifying 136 student-athletes for the indoor and outdoor national championship meets since the start of the 2016-17 season while also recording ten top-25 team finishes, earning 120 All-America honors, and winning six individual national championships in the same period.
  • In addition, UCCS track & field has performed well in the classroom with Fellows at the head of the program, compiling 40 RMAC All-Academic First Team honorees, three RMAC Academic Athletes of the Year, and ten CoSIDA Academic All-Americans.
WEATHER
  • The weather in Pueblo, Colo., calls for mostly sunny skies throughout the entirety of the three-day meet with temperatures mainly staying in the high-70s and winds expected to be between 10-15 miles per hour.
SOCIAL
Twitter - @GoMountainLions
Instagram - @gomountainlions
Facebook – Go Mountain Lions
 
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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