COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The University of Colorado Colorado Springs track and field team split up on Friday afternoon with a group of student-athletes competing at the Air Force Last Chance meet and another group of long jumpers in action at the Mines Pre-Conference meet. Across the two meets, the Mountain Lions combined to record six NCAA provisional qualifying marks and saw multiple updates to the indoor school record books, including a new school record in the men's 400m dash from junior Kymani Sterling.  
 
INSIDE THE AIR FORCE LAST CHANCE
Location: Air Force Cadet Field House | Colorado Springs, Colo.
Track Size: 268-meters (flat)
Elevation: 7,048 ft
 
INSIDE THE MINES PRE-CONFERENCE
Location: CSM Steinhauer Fieldhouse | Golden, Colo.
Track Size: 193-meters (flat)
Elevation: 5,675 ft
 
HOW IT HAPPENED | AIR FORCE LAST CHANCE

• Competing in his first open 400m dash of the season, Sterling easily overtook the 15-person field with an indoor school record raw time of 47.87s that landed him in first place by nearly a full second over the second-place finisher. His altitude-converted time of 48.08s registered as an NCAA provisional qualifying time that would currently rank tied for 25^th in the nation.
• Junior Luke Hard added another NCAA provisional qualifying mark for the Mountain Lions in the men's weight throw competition, where he recorded a toss of 18.33m to finish second overall. Hard's mark came up short of his indoor season-best, however, which sits at 18.91m and currently ranks 22^nd in NCAA Division II.
• In the women's pole vault, freshman Phia Edwards posted a new personal and season best effort as she cleared a bar height of 3.65m that was good for eighth overall in the competition. Her mark also tied her for second all-time in program history, matching the marks of current teammate Brianna Spencer and former Mountain Lion Brenna Kuskie.
• The Mountain Lions had a pair of student-athletes record season-best races in the women's 800m as redshirt junior Rachel Goodrich crossed the line in a personal best time of 2:19.98 (2:18.36c) for a third-place finish and redshirt senior Michela Hewitt was less than a tenth of a second behind in fourth place with a time of 2:20.04 (2:18.41c).
• Freshman Savannah Jorgens logged an impressive performance in the women's weight throw, where she surpassed her previous personal best by more than a meter with a third-place mark of 15.65m. Redshirt senior Cassielynn Bonner finished directly behind Jorgens in fourth place overall with a toss of 15.59m.
• In a women's mile field of 16 finishers, the Mountain Lions had a pair of runners finish inside the top-five with redshirt sophomore Brooke Moss claiming fourth place with a season-best raw time of 5:23.08 (5:10.88c) and redshirt freshman Kaya Pillivant taking fifth place with a time of 5:24.04 (5:11.80c).
• On the men's side of the mile race, two UCCS competitors posted personal best performances as redshirt freshman Joseph Impellitteri earned a fifth-place finish in the field of 21 finishers with a time of 4:27.86 (4:17.74c) while freshman Brett Davis was right on his tail for a sixth-place finish at a time of 4:28.61 (4:18.46c).
• Senior Alex Herman put together a personal best race in the men's 800m on Friday afternoon, shaving more than three seconds off his personal best raw time with a mark of 1:58.66 (1:57.28c).  
• In the women's triple jump, freshman Brielle Bracken was the top finisher for UCCS with a third-place mark of 11.41m. Sophomore Kathryn Carroll was also in action, leaping out to a season-best mark of 11.20m for a fourth place finish.
• Freshman Gunnar Betts paced a group of six student-athletes competing in the men's 60m dash as he matched his personal best with a time of 6.99s (7.03c) to finish 12^th overall. TJ Nissen (7.06s / 7.10c), Chase Monestime (7.07s / 7.11c), and Dominic Haggerty (7.11s / 7.15c) also finished inside the top-20 in the field of 34 competitors, placing in the 16^th-18^th positions, respectively.
• Sophomore Skylar Hawk put forth a season best effort in the women's 400m dash, posting a time of 59.97s (1:00.18c) to place fifth overall.
• In the women's 60m hurdles, sophomore Leyah Martinez was the top finisher for UCCS as she placed fourth overall in a field of 15 competitors with a time of 9.37s (9.41c). Sophomore Sydney Samuels also finished inside the top-half of the competition field, clocking a time of 9.47s (9.51c) for a sixth-place finish.
• In the women's shot put, junior Victoria Malaki posted a season-best mark of 12.05m to finish in third place, while Jorgens logged a toss of 11.25m for an eighth-place finish. On the men's side, sophomores Michael Roberts and Kyle Demos nearly matched each other with Roberts taking sixth place at 14.08m and Demos claiming seventh place at 14.05m.

HOW IT HAPPENED | MINES PRE-CONFERENCE

• The Mountain Lions had a trio of student-athletes competing in the men's long jump on Friday afternoon in Golden, Colo., and saw them claim the top three spots in the competition while each posting NCAA provisional qualifying marks for the event. Redshirt junior Richard Safoh led the way for UCCS as he finished first overall in the flight while blowing past his previous personal and season best mark with a monster leap of 7.59m. In addition to his mark registering as the second-furthest leap in the nation this indoor season based on the provisional qualifying list entering the day, Safoh's jump also moved him to second all-time in the UCCS men's indoor record book for the event.
• Junior Daryon Wilson was the second overall finisher in the competition as he also improved on his season-best mark with a jump of 7.46m that will likely move him into the top-15 for the event on the provisional qualifying list. Redshirt senior Peyton Turnage rounded out the men's long jump competitors for the Mountain Lions as he posted a provisional qualifying leap of 7.32m that was good for third place. Turnage's mark was just shy of his season-best NCAA qualifying mark of 7.37m that entered the week tied for 18^th in the country.
• In the women's long jump, redshirt sophomore Madissyn Moore narrowly surpassed the NCAA provisional qualifying threshold as she posted a leap of 5.70m to finish fifth overall. Her mark sits just shy of her season-best for the indoor season (5.91m) that ranked tied for 17^th in the nation entering the day.

BEYOND THE RESULTS

• At the conclusion of Friday's competition, the Mountain Lions are likely to have three student-athletes ranked inside the top-15 in the nation for the men's long jump. Safoh is projected to hold the No. 2 mark in the nation for the event at 7.59m with Peterson Bohannon tied for the No. 8 position at 7.47m and Wilson tied for No. 11 on the qualifying list at 7.46m.
• With the addition of Sterling's new provisional mark in the men's 400m dash, the Mountain Lions have now tallied a total of 39 NCAA qualifying marks throughout the 2023-24 indoor season, with 20 coming from the men's team and 19 from the women's squad.

UP NEXT

• The Mountain Lions will head to Spearfish, S.D., for the 2023-24 RMAC Indoor Track & Field Championships, which will take place on the campus of Black Hills State University on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 23-24.

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As a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs competes in 14 varsity sports in NCAA Division II intercollegiate athletics.