PUEBLO, Colo. – Competing in Pueblo, Colo., for a second consecutive week, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs track & field team put together an impressive showing on Friday at the Chuck Haering Invitational as the men's and women's teams combined for 12 event wins, eight NCAA provisional qualifying marks, and three school records.
 
INSIDE THE CHUCK HAERING INVITATIONAL
Location: CSUP ThunderBowl | Pueblo, Colo.
Elevation: 4,848 ft
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• After earning a pair of First Team All-America accolades during the indoor season, senior Anna Fauske made her outdoor season debut on Friday and went on to record the first NCAA provisional qualifying mark of the day for the Mountain Lions in the women's 5,000m as she clocked a converted time of 16:21.36 to finish first overall in the 28-person field. Junior Kseniya Nikanorov also nabbed a spot inside the top five as she finished fifth overall in the race with a personal best adjusted time of 17:19.11.
• The Mountain Lions added two more NCAA provisional qualifying marks in the men's 400m dash as junior Sebastien Jean galloped around the track in an outdoor personal best converted time of 47.06s for a first-place finish in the 24-person field while sophomore Ashton Whisler was right on his tail, crossing the line in an outdoor personal best converted time of 47.15s. With their respective raw times of 46.95s and 47.04s, Jean and Whisler also took over the top two positions on the all-time top five list in program history for the men's outdoor 400m. Three additional Mountain Lions posted season-bests in the event with freshman Peyton Nelson finishing third with a converted time of 48.60s, redshirt sophomore Andrew Muncy taking fifth with a converted time of 49.00s, and freshman Sean Donelson finishing sixth with a converted time of 49.28s.
• For a second straight week, junior Kyle Demos was rock-solid in the men's shot put as he broke his own school record in the event with a massive NCAA provisional qualifying toss of 17.42m to finish first overall out of 22 throwers. Redshirt sophomore Kane Fobare also put forth an impressive showing in the event, finishing third overall with an outdoor personal best throw of 15.97m.
• Demos broke another one of his own program records in the men's discus throw as he tossed a season best and NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 52.20m to finish first overall among 26 competitors in the event.
• UCCS secured the top three positions in the men's hammer throw, led by senior Luke Hard with an NCAA provisional qualifying toss of 57.86m. Junior Michael Roberts was the second overall finisher in the event with a personal best mark of 56.74m, while sophomore Hayden Cuevas established a new personal best in the event by nearly six full meters to finish third overall with a toss of 56.16m.
• Redshirt junior Madissyn Moore was the top overall finisher in the women's long jump as she leapt to a season and personal best NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 5.94m. Sophomore Danaya Kinnard also posted a new season best in the event as she finished second overall with a leap of 5.66m, while senior Chelsea Howard claimed fourth place with a jump of 5.63m.
• Another NCAA provisional qualifying mark was added in the men's high jump, where freshman Alex Emers cleared a personal best bar height of 2.05m for an easy first place finish in the event.
• Senior Victoria Farinas was the top overall finisher among 18 competitors in the women's 100m dash as she sprinted to a season and personal best converted time of 11.79s that was just three-hundredths of a second off the NCAA provisional qualifying threshold. Moore and Kinnard were also top five finishers in the event with Moore taking third place in a personal best converted time of 12.20s and Kinnard finishing in fourth place with a season best converted time of 12.21s.
• The Mountain Lions collected another event win in the men's 110m hurdles, where sophomore Nigel James crossed the line in first place out of 13 hurdlers with a personal best converted time of 14.58s. Junior Dillon Arvayo also had a strong effort in the race, finishing fifth overall in a converted time of 15.28s.
• James returned to the track later in the afternoon in the 400m hurdles and had another strong showing as he clocked a personal best adjusted time of 54.29s to finish second among 14 hurdlers in the event.
• Junior Savannah Jorgens recorded a strong improvement in the women's hammer throw as she surpassed her previous personal best in the event by more than three meters with a third-place mark of 50.68m. Senior Victoria Malaki also posted a season best in the event, finishing fourth overall with a toss of 48.42m.
• Sophomore Brett Davis was just over a second shy of the NCAA provisional qualifying threshold in the men's 1500m as he registered a converted time of 3:49.39 to finish sixth overall in the 27-person field. Davis was joined in the top 10 by redshirt sophomore Enzo Knapp, who took eighth place with a converted time of 3:52.68.
• Three Mountain Lions finished inside the top five of the men's 100m competition with senior Kymani Sterling leading the group in second place overall with a converted time of 10.64s. Sophomore Gunnar Betts was next across the finish line for UCCS in third place at a season best converted time of 10.76 with sophomore Luke Trinrud right behind him in fifth place with a season best converted time of 10.88s.
• Redshirt junior Gigi Douillard clocked a new season and personal best converted time of 1:03.36 in the women's 400m hurdles finishing third overall out of eight competitors.
• Freshman Jordan Mora notched a personal best toss in the men's javelin throw, finishing fifth overall in the event with a toss of 53.35m. In the women's javelin throw, freshman Dyanna Parra was the second overall finisher as she uncorked a toss of 35.92m.
• In the women's 1500m, freshman Lida Padgett had a strong outdoor debut as she earned a fifth place finish out of 24 competitors with a converted time of 4:44.89.
• UCCS earned a first-place finish among four teams in the men's 4x100m relay as sophomore Gunnar Betts, Jean, junior Daryn Ofori-Kuragu, and Sterling carried the baton around the track in a converted time of 40.89s.
• UCCS grabbed three of the top five spots in the women's 100m hurdles, led by freshman Payton Rodgers in third place with a converted time of 14.99s. Rodgers was followed across the line by junior Abigail Frey in fourth place at a converted time of 15.67s and Douillard in fifth place with an adjusted time of 15.74s.
• In addition to her action on the track, Rodgers also notched a first-place finish in the women's triple jump as she leapt to a season and personal best mark of 11.77m.
• In the men's 200m dash, Ofori-Kuragu was the top Mountain Lion finisher as he clocked a season best converted time of 21.62s to finish fifth overall in the 26-person field. He was joined in the top 10 by Trinrud in seventh place at a converted time of 22.17s and Betts in ninth place with an adjusted time of 22.25s.
• Junior Brooke Peterson was an event winner in the women's pole vault, where she cleared a bar height of 3.60m to beat out a field of eight vaulters.
• Junior Bailey Young finished third overall out of 15 competitors in the women's shot put as she recorded a season best mark of 13.23m. Junior Savannah Jorgens was not far behind Young, taking fifth overall with a season best toss of 12.51m.
• In the men's long jump, redshirt sophomore KJ McInnis led the Mountain Lions with a second-place finish at an outdoor season and personal best mark of 7.15m. Junior Willie Tran also posted a season best mark in the event, taking fourth place with a leap of 6.83m.
• The Mountain Lions had a pair of personal best efforts in the women's 800m as redshirt senior Rachel Goodrich and redshirt freshman Olivia Sargent went toe-to-toe with Goodrich finishing sixth overall at a converted time of 2:14.60 and Sargent coming across in seventh place at a converted time of 2:14.61. In the men's 800m, freshman Jacob Silvis also dashed to a personal best converted time of 1:54.64 to finish 13^th out of 38 runners.
• In the women's 400m dash, senior Alyssa Lopez raced to a season best converted mark of 58.44s to claim fourth place overall among 13 sprinters.
• Redshirt freshman Jonas Graff competed in the men's 5,000m for the first time in his collegiate career and put forth a solid showing as he clocked a converted time of 15:29.80, finishing in eighth place out of 23 runners.
• UCCS finished the track events with a pair of second place finishes in the men's and women's 4x400m relay races. On the men's side, Jean, Muncy, Nelson, and Whisler teamed up and came up less than half of a second shy of the NCAA provisional qualifying threshold with a converted time of 3:13.71 that was good for second overall in the 11-team race. From the women's team, Douillard, Lopez, Goodrich, and Lilyana Delagarza passed the baton to the tune of a converted time of 3:59.56, finishing second out of eight teams.

BEYOND THE RESULTS

• UCCS recorded updates to the top five lists in the indoor record book for 11 different events at the Chuck Haering Invitational, including the women's 100m, men's 400m, men's 100m hurdles, men's 400m hurdles, women's long jump, men's and women's shot put, men's discus throw, men's and women's hammer throw, and men's javelin throw.
  • Victoria Farinas – Women's 100m (4^th all-time)
  • Sebastien Jean – Men's 400m (School Record)
  • Ashton Whisler – Men's 400m (2^nd all-time)
  • Nigel James – Men's 100m Hurdles (3^rd all-time)
  • Nigel James – Men's 400m Hurdles (2^nd all-time)
  • Madissyn Moore – Women's Long Jump (4th all-time)
  • Kyle Demos – Men's Shot Put (School Record)
  • Kane Fobare – Men's Shot Put (5^th all-time)
  • Bailey Young – Women's Shot Put (2^nd all-time)
  • Kyle Demos – Men's Discus Throw (School Record)
  • Michael Roberts – Men's Hammer Throw (3^rd all-time)
  • Hayden Cuevas – Men's Hammer Throw (4^th all-time)
  • Savannah Jorgens – Women's Hammer Throw (3^rd all-time)
  • Jordan Mora – Men's Javelin Throw (5^th all-time)

UP NEXT

• The Mountain Lions will split up next weekend with the distance runners heading to the west coast to compete at the Mike Fanelli Track Classic and Stanford Invitational on Friday, April 4 and the rest of the team making their way to Denton, Texas for University of North Texas' Bill Schmidt Invite on April 4-5.

 
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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.