GUNNISON, Colo. – The University of Colorado Colorado Springs track & field team traveled to Gunnison, Colo., on Saturday to compete at the Big Red Machine Open hosted by Western Colorado University and went on to record six NCAA provisional qualifying marks, including four that registered as new or improved marks for the 2023-24 indoor season.
 
INSIDE THE BIG RED MACHINE OPEN
Location: Mountaineer Field House | Gunnison, Colo.
Track Size: 200-meters (flat)
Elevation: 7,723 ft
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• UCCS had a large group of men's student-athletes competing in the 200m dash and they put together a strong effort as the black and gold filled up the top four positions in the competition. Junior Kymani Sterling paced the Mountain Lions as the top overall finisher in the race with an NCAA provisional qualifying converted time of 21.28s, while redshirt senior Justice Mendoza also recorded a provisional qualifying converted time of 21.50s to finish second overall. Mason Pastorello and Daryn Ofori-Kuragu also came close to the NCAA provisional qualifying threshold for the event (21.67s) as they finished third and fourth overall with respective converted times of 21.82s and 21.90s.
• Redshirt junior Keyanda Bolton raced to an NCAA provisional qualifying mark of her own in the women's 200m dash as she was the top overall finisher in the race with a converted time of 24.69s.
• Two more of the Mountain Lions NCAA provisional marks on Saturday came in the women's 60m dash, where redshirt senior Audrey Bloomquist and junior Victoria Farinas were dominant among a field of 18 competitors. In the preliminary round, Bloomquist hit the national qualifying threshold and posted the fastest time overall at 7.53s (7.57c) while Farinas also posted a provisional qualifying time of 7.59s (7.63c) to claim second in the prelim field. Not much changed in the final race for the event as Bloomquist and Farinas once again claimed the top two spots in the race, respectively, with Bloomquist matching her prelim time at 7.53s (7.57c) and Farinas clocking a time of 7.61s (7.65c).
• The Mountain Lions added another provisional qualifying mark in the women's 800m as redshirt freshman Trinity Dixon improved on her season best time with a converted mark of 2:13.47 that was good for third place. Redshirt senior Ashten Loeks also came up less than a tenth of a second away from reaching the provisional qualifying threshold for the event as she finished fifth overall at a season-best converted time of 2:14.37.
• In the men's 60m dash, freshmen Gunnar Betts and TJ Nissen were the top competitors for UCCS as they both advanced through the preliminary round with respective raw times of 6.99s and 7.01s. In the final race, it was Nissen that crossed the line first for the Mountain Lions as he clocked an eighth-place time of 6.99s (7.03c) while Betts earned a ninth-place finish at a time of 7.03s (7.07c).
• UCCS put forth a strong showing in the men's 400m dash as they claimed each of the top three spots in the race, led by sophomore Sebastien Jean in first place with a personal best converted time of 48.96s. Crossing the line second overall was redshirt senior Dillon Andrews with a converted time of 49.18s, followed by freshman Ashton Whisler in third place at a converted time of 49.50s.  
• Freshman Addie Wilson was the top finisher for the Mountain Lions in the women's 400m dash as she clocked a converted time of 59.24s to grab third place overall. Junior Alyssa Lopez was not far behind with a converted time of 59.73s that was good for fourth place overall in the competition.
• The UCCS 400m runners came back to the track to close out the meet in the 4x400m relays later in the day and continued to impress. On the men's side, Jean, Andrews, Whisler, and Thorben Hast teamed up to earn a first-place finish in the relay with a converted time of 3:16.89. In the women's relay, it was Lopez, Amber Davis, Wilson, and Dixon that combined to post a season-best converted time of 3:54.82s to claim a second-place finish.
• The Mountain Lions had a pair of student-athletes surpass the 16-meter mark in the men's weight throw with sophomore Michael Roberts hitting a mark of 16.10m for a third-place finish and freshman Hayden Cuevas reaching a distance of 16.03m to finish fourth overall. On the women's side, sophomore Savannah Jorgens and Victoria Malaki each posted season-best efforts with Jorgens finishing ninth overall at a mark of 14.44m and Malaki finishing tenth overall with a toss of 14.38m.
• In the men's shot put, Kyle Demos earned a third-place finish as he posted a season-best toss of 14.42m. Roberts joined Demos in putting forth a season-best effort for the event as he recorded a mark of 14.06m to finish in fifth place.
• At the men's pole vault, freshman Brayden Shaw put forth a season and personal best effort as he cleared a bar height of 4.51m to finish sixth overall.
• UCCS had a pair of student-athletes competing in the women's 5,000m race and it was redshirt sophomore Molly Breuer that led the way for the Mountain Lions as she finished fourth overall in the field of 11 finishers with a converted time of 18:20.72. Finishing her first collegiate indoor 5K was Madison Chavez, who logged a sixth-place finish at a converted time of 18:58.12.
• The Mountain Lions also had a strong group of distance runners in the women's mile as they secured three of the top four positions in the competition, led by freshman Emma Montoya with a second place converted time of 5:06.47. Crossing the line in third place overall was redshirt freshman Kaya Pillivant with a converted time of 5:06.63, while redshirt sophomore Brooke Moss finished fourth overall at a converted time of 5:07.19. The converted times also registered as season-best times for all three runners.
• In the 60m hurdles, freshman Bryce Joshlin led the way for UCCS as he clocked a time of 8.80s (8.84c) in the preliminary round of the competition, which qualified him for the final in the event. In the final race, Joshlin slightly improved his time to 8.76s (8.80c) as he finished seventh overall.
• On the women's side of the 60m hurdles, UCCS saw three of their four competitors qualify for the final race with sophomore Sydney Samuels posting the third fastest time in the preliminary round at 9.17s (9.21c), sophomore Leyah Martinez clocking the fourth fastest time in the field at 9.33s (9.37c), and redshirt senior Faith Novess finishing ninth in the prelim field at 9.46s (9.50c). Moving to the final race, Novess wound up leading the Mountain Lions with a fourth-place finish overall while improving her time to 9.30s (9.34c), while Martinez finished sixth overall at 9.35s (9.39c) and Samuels finished eighth overall.
• In the women's high jump, Novess was the top finisher for UCCS as she cleared a bar height of 1.58m to claim sixth place. Novess was followed by Lilyana Delagarza (1.48m) in seventh place and Lanette St. John (1.43m) in eighth place.
• Freshman Phia Edwards was the lone Mountain Lion competing in the women's pole vault as she cleared a mark of 3.50m to finish sixth overall among the field.

BEYOND THE RESULTS

• With two new NCAA qualifying marks on the day, the UCCS track & field teams have now combined to record a total of 35 throughout the span of the indoor season.

UP NEXT

• The Mountain Lions will leave the state of Colorado for the first time this indoor season as they travel to Albuquerque, N.M., to compete at the Don Kirby Invitational. The two-day meet, which will be hosted by University of New Mexico at the Albuquerque Convention Center, is set to take place on Friday, Feb. 9, and Saturday, Feb. 10.

SOCIAL
Twitter – @GoMountainLions 
Instagram – @gomountainlions
Facebook – GoMountainLions 
 
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.