GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – The University of Colorado Colorado Springs men's and women's track & field teams closed the 2024 RMAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships on Sunday with the men's team scoring 178 points to earn their fourth consecutive outdoor conference title the women's team finishing fourth overall with 119 points.
 
INSIDE THE 2024 RMAC OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS
UCCS Men's Final Score: 178 points – 1^st
UCCS Women's Final Score: 119 points – 4^th
Host School: Colorado Mesa University
Location: CMU Track & Field Complex | Grand Junction, Colo.
Elevation: 4,631 ft.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Mountain Lions put together a dominant performance in the men's 100m dash as Brian Mosley Jr., Donovan Mini, and Daryn Ofori-Kuragu combined to fill up three of the top four spots in the race. Mosley Jr. raced to the individual event title with a time of 10.55s, while Donovan Mini secured a second-place finish at 10.65s and Ofori-Kuragu took fourth place at a time of 10.81s.
• UCCS had an incredible showing in the men's 400m as Kymani Sterling, Ashton Whisler, and Sebastien Jean combined to score 17 points for the men's team. Sterling led the way for the Mountain Lions as he matched the UCCS men's school record in the event with a raw time of 47.10s to take second place overall and tab eight points. Whisler followed him across the line in a raw time of 47.56s to finish in fourth place and Jean was not far behind with a raw time of 48.25s that was good for fifth place. Sterling and Whisler also both reached the NCAA provisional qualifying threshold for the event with their converted times as Sterling reached the mark for the first time in his career at a converted time of 47.21s and Whisler was just shy of his season-best qualifying mark with a converted time of 47.56s.
• The UCCS women's team added 14 points in the women's 100m dash with Audrey Bloomquist and Victoria Farinas each making an appearance on the podium. Bloomquist was the top finisher for the Mountain Lions as she took second place overall with a time of 11.92s, while Farinas was right on her tail with a third-place time of 11.96s.
• Later in the afternoon, Bloomquist put her talents on display in the women's triple jump, where she went on to record a school record and NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 12.59m to earn the gold medal in the event. Sophomore Kathryn Carroll posted a personal best performance in the event as she reached 11.66m to finish sixth overall and score three points, while freshman Brielle Bracken recorded a mark of 11.46m that was good for eighth place and one point.
• The Mountain Lions tallied 13 points in the women's 100m hurdles with a pair of NCAA provisional qualifying performances from Melissa Moreni and Krissie Sanders. Moreni finished in second place overall as she posted a season-best time of 13.70s, while Sanders claimed fourth place with a season and personal best time of 14.16s. Moreni's converted time of 13.74s registered as an improvement on her existing NCAA provisional qualifying time for the event, while Sanders's converted time of 14.20s met the NCAA provisional qualifying threshold for the first time this season.
• Sanders returned to the track later in the day in the women's 400m hurdles and continued to impress as she broke the school record in the event with a raw time of 1:00.05 that was good enough to put her on the podium with a bronze medal. Her converted time of 1:00.16 also went down as an improvement over her existing NCAA provisional qualifying mark.
• In the men's 400m hurdles, redshirt senior Dillon Andrews clocked a season-best time of 52.27s to take third place overall and score six points for the UCCS men's team. His converted time of 52.38s also registered as an improvement on his national qualifying time for the outdoor season. Freshman Nigel James also got in on the scoring in the event, placing fifth overall with a time of 54.70s to add four points.
• The UCCS women's 4x100m relay team of Audrey Bloomquist, Keyanda Bolton, Zane Bullock, and Victoria Farinas broke out a season-best performance to kick off the track events on Sunday, recording a raw time of 45.31s to claim second place overall and score eight points. Their converted time of 45.43s registered as an improvement on their existing NCAA provisional qualifying mark by nearly a full second and will give them a strong shot at earning national qualification as the time currently ranks inside the top-ten in the nation for the women's 4x100m relay.
• In the men's 4x100m relay, Daryn Ofori-Kuragu, Kymani Sterling, Donovan Mini, and Brian Mosley Jr. linked up to record a raw time of 40.34s and narrowly edge out Colorado Mesa for the gold medal. In addition to scoring ten points for the UCCS men's team, the group also hit the NCAA provisional qualifying threshold with their converted time of 40.46s, although it was just shy of their season-best converted time of 40.25s that entered the weekend ranked 11^th in the country.
• The men's sprinters returned to the track in the men's 200m dash and saw Mosley Jr., Sterling, and Mason Pastorello combine to record 18 points in the event. Mosley Jr. was the first Mountain Lions across the line as he posted a time of 21.33s to earn a silver medal. He was joined on the podium by Sterling, who earned a bronze medal with a time of 21.45s. Pastorello rounded out the scoring in the event for UCCS with a fifth-place finish at a time of 21.72s.
• In the women's 200m dash, Bolton made her way onto the podium as she finished third overall with a personal best raw time of 24.02s. Her converted time of 24.09s registered as her first NCAA provisional qualifying mark of the outdoor season, while her raw time moves her into second place all-time in UCCS women's outdoor program history for the event. Farinas also added two points for UCCS in the 200m dash as she finished seventh overall with a raw time of 24.89s.
• Redshirt sophomore Jagger Zlotoff engaged in a heated battle in the men's 1500m as he finished in second place with a raw time of 3:48.23, finishing just 0.08 seconds behind the leading runner, Western Colorado's Simon Kelati. His placing added eight points to the men's team total, while his converted time of 3:43.75 registered as an improvement over his existing NCAA provisional qualifying mark in the event.
• Junior Joseph Hamilton put together a strong effort in the men's 800m dash as he finished second overall and scored eight points for the men's team with a raw time of 1:52.53.
• In the women's heptathlon, redshirt senior Faith Novess finished the final three events on a high note as she tallied a personal and season-best score of 4,778 points to finish third overall and score six points. The mark not only registered as her first NCAA provisional qualifying effort of the season in the event, but also bolstered her hold on the second position all-time in program history for the women's heptathlon.
• The Mountain Lions grabbed a total of eight points in the men's triple jump with redshirt senior Peyton Turnage taking fourth place at a mark of 14.28m and freshman Jeffrey Franquemont securing sixth place with a leap of 13.96m.
• Freshman Nigel James chalked up five points in the men's 110m hurdles as he finished fourth overall in the event with a raw time of 14.86s.
• Junior Anna Fauske scored two points for the Mountain Lions in the women's 1500m as she clocked a time of 4:28.94 to finish in seventh place overall. Her converted time of 4:23.66 also registered as a slight improvement over her existing NCAA provisional qualifying mark in the event. Fauske returned to the track later in the day to record a fourth-place finish in the women's 5,000m race, where she recorded a converted time of 16:33.80 that was good for five points and surpassed the NCAA provisional qualifying threshold in the event.
• The women's 4x400m relay team of Alyssa Lopez, Michela Hewitt, Addie Wilson, and Amber Davis put together a season-best time of 3:50.52 to finish sixth overall in the relay race and score three points.
• Holding a slim lead in the points standings with one event left to go, the UCCS men's 4x400m relay team of Dillon Andrews, Joseph Hamilton, Sebastien Jean, and Ashton Whisler iced the meet as they cruised to a school record time of 3:12.29 that was good for a gold medal in the event. The group's converted time of 3:12.73 also registered as an NCAA provisional qualifying mark for the event.

FINAL STANDINGS (MEN)
1. UCCS – 178 points
2. Colorado Mesa – 166.50 points
3. Colorado School of Mines – 164.50 points
4. Western Colorado – 87.50 points
5. CSU Pueblo – 67 points
6. South Dakota Mines – 45 points
7. Black Hills State – 31 points
8. Adams State – 27 points
9. Chadron State – 20 points
10. MSU Denver – 10.50 points
11. Colorado Christian – 10 points
12. Fort Lewis – 5 points
13. Westminster – 1 point
 
FINAL STANDINGS (WOMEN)
1. Colorado School of Mines – 144 points
2. Colorado Mesa – 123 points
3. Adams State – 120 points
4. UCCS – 119 points
5. Western Colorado – 85 points
6. New Mexico Highlands – 83 points
7. CSU Pueblo – 49 points
8. MSU Denver – 37 points
9. Fort Lewis – 20 points
10. South Dakota Mines – 14 points
11. Black Hills State – 13 points
12. Westminster – 8 points
13. Colorado Christian – 3 points
 
BEYOND THE RESULTS

• Bloomquist was named the Dr. Randy Rhine Women's Performer of the Meet as she reached the podium four times on her way to scoring a meet-leading total of 30 points. The native of Helena, Mont., was the individual event champion in the long jump and triple jump while finishing in second place overall in the 100m dash and 4x100m relay.
• Mosley Jr. recorded the second-most points of any men's student-athlete at the conference championship meet with 20.5 as he was the individual event champion in the 100m dash and 4x100m relay and earned a second-place finish in the 200m dash.
• Across the three-day conference championship meet, the UCCS men's and women's teams combined to record 25 podium finishes, including nine gold medals, ten silver medals, and six bronze medals. The Mountain Lions also posted a total of 31 NCAA provisional qualifying marks throughout the meet.
• On day three of the conference championship, UCCS recorded outdoor record book updates in – events, including the women's 200m, men's 400m, women's 100m hurdles, women's 400m hurdles, men's 4x400m relay, women's triple jump, and women's heptathlon.
  • Keyanda Bolton – 200m (2^nd all-time)
  • Kymani Sterling – 400m (T-School Record)
  • Krissie Sanders – 100m Hurdles (3^rd all-time)
  • Krissie Sanders – 400m Hurdles (School Record)
  • Andrews, Hamilton, Jean, Whisler - 4x400m Relay (School Record)
  • Audrey Bloomquist – Triple Jump (School Record)
  • Faith Novess – Heptathlon (2^nd all-time)

UP NEXT

• The Mountain Lions have a handful of last chance meets on the schedule prior to the announcement of the participant field for the 2024 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships at approximately 4 p.m. (MT) on Tuesday, May 14. First on the ledger will be the Air Force Twilight Open on Friday, May 3, at the AFA Cadet Outdoor Track Complex.

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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.