COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The University of Colorado Colorado Springs track & field team put together a huge performance in their final regular season meet of the season on Saturday at the Colorado Running Company Mountain Lion Open as the men's and women's teams combined to record 17 NCAA Division II provisional qualifying marks and 13 event wins.
INSIDE THE COLORADO RUNNING COMPANY MOUNTAIN LION OPEN
Location: Mountain Lion Fieldhouse | Colorado Springs, Colo.
Track Size: 200-meters (flat)
Elevation: 6,291 ft
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Mountain Lions made history during the first track event of the day with redshirt senior Kate Hedlund (1200m), sophomore Krissie Sanders (400m), redshirt senior Rachel Goodrich (800m), and senior Anna Fauske (Mile) teaming up in the women's distance medley relay to break the Mountain Lion Fieldhouse facility record with a raw time of 11:46.39. Their altitude-converted time of 11:23.59 also registered as an NCAA provisional qualifying time that is likely to place them inside the top 10 in the nation for the event.
- Redshirt senior Caiden Macktinger re-wrote the record book in the men's pole vault as he broke his own indoor school record in the event, posting a season-best NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 5.18m to finish first overall.
- A pair of UCCS student-athletes surpassed the NCAA provisional qualifying threshold in the men's weight throw as senior Luke Hard earned a second-place finish with a toss of 18.76m and junior Michael Roberts claimed the third-place position with a mark of 18.38m.
- Junior Brooke Peterson continued to be a model of consistency in the women's pole vault, where she cleared an NCAA provisional qualifying bar height of 3.79m to finish in third place overall. Peterson has now achieved a provisional qualifying mark in each of her six competitions this indoor season.
- After posting a solid converted time of 8.16s in the preliminary round of the men's 60m hurdles to claim the second-fastest time in the field, sophomore Nigel James improved to a converted NCAA provisional qualifying time of 8.01s in the final to claim second overall in the race. His raw time of 7.97s registered as a personal best in the event and was his first time clocking a sub-8 second mark.
- In the women's 5,000m, Kseniya Nikanorov raced to her first NCAA provisional qualifying mark of the indoor season as she placed first overall with a season and personal best converted time 17:05.51.
- Redshirt sophomore Joseph Impellitteri raced his way to an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 4:08.15c in the men's mile for a first-place finish in the event.
- Junior Daryn Ofori-Kuragu and redshirt senior Richard Safoh posted their first NCAA provisional qualifying marks of the season on the center lanes as they took the top two spots in the men's 60m dash. Ofori-Kuragu opened the day with a converted time of 6.92s in the preliminary round before dropping a full tenth of a second off his time in the final race with a personal best provisional qualifying time of 6.82c that was good for first place. Safoh showed his consistency on the track, notching a provisional qualifying time of 6.83c in the preliminary round before finishing second overall in the final at another provisional qualifying time of 6.84c.
- Freshman Payton Rodgers made an improvement over her previous NCAA provisional qualifying mark in the women's triple jump as she leaped to a personal best distance of 12.06m to finish first overall in the competition.
- Junior KJ McInnis had a strong day in the jumps events as he recorded first place finishes and NCAA provisional qualifying marks in both the long and triple jump. He began his day in the long jump with a mark of 7.17m before registering a leap of 14.67m in the triple jump.
- Freshman Alex Emers posted an NCAA provisional qualifying mark in the men's high jump with a bar clearance of 2.04m that was good for second overall in the competition.
- In the men's shot put, junior Kyle Demos cruised to a first-place finish with an NCAA provisional qualifying toss of 16.82m. Demos was extremely consistent on Saturday with each of his final five throws surpassing at least 16.40m.
- In the center of the track, sophomore Krissie Sanders and senior Victoria Farinas recorded NCAA provisional qualifying marks in their respective events with Sanders posting a converted time of 8.81s in the preliminary round of the 60m hurdles and Farinas clocking a converted time of 7.54s in the final race of the 60m dash.
- A pair of Mountain Lion sprinters took the top two spots in the men's 200m dash with sophomore Luke Trinrud clocking a converted time of 21.97s to earn a first-place finish and sophomore Ashton Whisler coming across the line in second place with a converted time of 21.99s.
- UCCS took the top three spots in the women's mile with redshirt senior Rachel Richtman leading the pack with a converted time of 4:55.92 that was less than half a second away from registering as a provisional qualifying time. She was joined in the top three by sophomore Emma Montoya in second place with a converted time of 4:58.07 and redshirt junior Molly Breuer in third place at a converted time of 4:59.70.
- Two UCCS student-athletes came within five seconds of the NCAA provisional qualifying threshold in the men's 5,000m as redshirt sophomore Caden Leal took second place in a personal best converted time of 14:27.69 and senior Logan Cole placed third overall with a converted time of 14:28.54.
- Redshirt freshman Madison Brosig posted a personal best performance in the women's 3,000m as she clocked a converted time of 9:56.65 for a first-place finish. Her converted time was just over three seconds from surpassing the provisional qualifying threshold.
- Junior Kathryn Carroll was another Mountain Lion that was just shy of provisionally qualifying in their event on Saturday as she posted a personal best leap of 5.69m in the women's long jump to finish fourth overall.
- After running the 1200m leg of the women's DMR to start the morning, Hedlund returned to the track in the women's 800m and finished first overall in the event with a converted time of 2:14.60.
- Three Mountain Lions clocked sub-one minute times in the women's 400m dash, led by redshirt junior Gigi Douillard with a second-place finish in a converted time of 58.98s. She was followed across the line by sophomore Lilyana Delagarza in in third place at a converted time of 59.60s and senior Alyssa Lopez in fourth place at a converted time of 59.76s.
- Sophomore Dallis Robinson cleared a personal best bar height of 1.65m in the women's high jump, earning a fourth-place finish in the event.
- In the women's weight throw, junior Savannah Jorgens took fourth place as she heaved a toss of 16.76m.
BEYOND THE RESULTS
- UCCS recorded updates to the top five lists in the indoor record book for - different events at the CRC Mountain Lion Open on Saturday, including the women's triple jump, men's shot put, men's and women's weight throw.
- The Mountain Lions head into the conference championship meet having recorded a total of 39 NCAA Division II provisional qualifying marks, including 25 on the men's side and 14 on the women's side.
- Two facility records for the Mountain Lion Fieldhouse were broken on Saturday with the UCCS women's distance medley relay team securing the new facility record at 11:46.39 and Colorado School of Mines' Holden Murphy once again breaking his own facility record in the men's weight throw at 19.75m.
UP NEXT
- The Mountain Lions will prepare to host the 2024-25 RMAC Indoor Track & Field Championships inside the Mountain Lion Fieldhouse on Friday, Feb. 28 and Saturday, March 1.
SOCIAL
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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.
