CANYON, Texas – The University of Colorado Colorado Springs track and field team had a huge day at West Texas A&M University's Jo Meaker Classic and Colorado School of Mines' Kit Mayer Classic as the program records for the men's and women's hammer throw were dispatched and the men's and women's teams combined to record seven NCAA provisional qualifying marks.
 
INSIDE THE JO MEAKER CLASSIC
Location: WTAMU Track & Field Complex | Canyon, Texas
Elevation: 3,534 ft.
 
INSIDE THE KIT MAYER CLASSIC
Location: CSM Stermole Track & Field Complex | Golden, Colo.
Elevation: 5,739 ft.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED | JO MEAKER CLASSIC

• Junior Savannah Jorgens provided fireworks in the women's hammer throw as she shattered the school record and posted a nearly six-meter personal best in the event with a massive NCAA provisional qualifying toss of 56.71m to finish first overall in the 19-person field. Senior Victoria Malaki and junior Bailey Young also notched season-best efforts in the event with Malaki taking fifth place at a personal best toss of 50.86m and Young finishing eighth overall with a throw of 49.86m.
• The Mountain Lions also saw history made in the men's hammer throw as senior Luke Hard unleashed a monster NCAA provisional qualifying toss of 60.11m to break the UCCS program record and finish second overall out of 19 competitors in the event. Junior Michael Roberts also notched a personal best NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 58.28m in the event for a third-place finish overall, while sophomore Hayden Cuevas was just shy of his personal best with a fourth-place toss of 56.08m.
• Sophomore Danaya Kinnard put together a huge performance in the women's 200m dash as she posted a massive personal best and NCAA provisional qualifying converted time of 24.06s to finish eighth overall in the 54-person field. Fellow sophomore Zane Bullock also had a sizeable personal best in the event as she raced to a converted time of 24.58s to finish in 15^th place.
• In the men's 200m dash, junior Sebastien Jean shaved nearly a full second off his previous personal best in the event for an NCAA provisional qualifying converted time of 21.14s that was good for 16^th place overall in the 75-person field. Junior Daryn Ofori-Kuragu was not far behind Jean as he crossed the line in a season and personal best adjusted time of 21.28s for a 20^th place finish while redshirt senior Donovan Mini took 27^th place with a season-best converted time of 21.53s.
• UCCS added another NCAA provisional qualifying mark in the women's 4x100m relay as Kinnard, Bullock, redshirt junior Madissyn Moore, and senior Victoria Farinas raced to a season-best converted time of 46.05s to finish fourth overall out of nine teams.
• In the women's high jump, sophomore Dallis Robinson and Lilyana Delagarza finished in a tie for first place as they both cleared a bar height of 1.62m. For Robinson, the mark registered as a season and personal best in the event, while Delagarza was just shy of reaching her season-best of 1.68m that she established on Thursday while competing in the heptathlon high jump.
• In addition to her strong effort in the women's hammer throw, Malaki also led the way for UCCS in the women's discus throw as she reached a season-best mark of 44.69m to finish third overall in the 20-person field.
• In the men's discus throw, junior Kyle Demos notched a third place finish out of 20 competitors with a mark of 50.23m. Roberts also had a season-best performance in the event, finishing ninth overall with a toss of 45.35m.
• Ofori-Kuragu was the top Mountain Lion finisher in the men's 100m dash as he posted a season-best converted time of 10.51s to finish 14^th overall in the 67-person field. Senior Kymani Sterling crossed the line just behind Ofori-Kuragu in 15^th place with a personal and season best converted time of 10.52s, while Mini logged a season-best converted time of 10.67s to finish in 22^nd place.
• In the women's 100m dash, Farinas was the first Mountain Lion across the finish line in 12^th place with a converted time of 11.82s. Kinnard was the 17^th place finisher in the 58-person field with a personal best converted time of 11.95s, while Moore (11.98c) and Bullock (12.00c) also notched personal bests in the event to finish in 19^th and 20^th place, respectively.
• Freshman Payton Rodgers paced UCCS in the women's 100m hurdles as she recorded a personal best time of 14.68s to finish seventh out of 22 hurdlers. Junior Abigail Frey also had a season-best performance in the event, racing to a 12^th place finish with a converted time of 15.22s. Frey was also in action in the women's 400m hurdles on Saturday and went on to post a slight season-best in the event with an adjusted time of 1:06.24.
• Senior Chelsea Howard was the top finisher for the Mountain Lions in the women's long jump as she tied for sixth overall with a leap of 5.56m. Sophomores Brielle Bracken and Zane Bullock also recorded season and personal bests in the event as Bracken finished 11^th with a jump of 5.45m and Bullock took 13^th with a leap of 5.42m. In the men's long jump, junior Willie Tran jumped to a fifth-place finish in the 19-person field with a personal and season best mark of 7.10m.
• The Mountain Lions' men's 4x100m relay squad of Gunnar Betts, Ofori-Kuragu, Jean, and Sterling posted an eighth place finish out of 15 teams with a converted time of 40.89s.
• Freshmen Peyton Nelson and Sean Donelson recorded personal best marks in the men's 400m dash with Nelson taking 12^th place overall in the 39-person field with a converted time of 48.45s and Donelson finishing 21^st with a converted time of 49.22s.

HOW IT HAPPENED | KIT MAYER CLASSIC

• Redshirt sophomore Audrey Brunken posted the lone NCAA provisional qualifying mark among the group of Mountain Lion student-athletes competing at the Kit Mayer Classic as she recorded a personal best converted time of 10:52.92 to finish first overall in the women's 3,000m steeplechase. Redshirt junior Brooke Moss and freshman Lida Padgett also finished inside the top five of the 12-person field with Moss clocking a third place converted time of 11:14.04 and Padgett taking fourth place in a converted time of 11:30.56.
• Senior Logan Cole galloped to a third place finish out of 23 competitors in the men's 5,000m race as he posted a personal best converted time of 14:17.64 that was just over a tenth of a second away from surpassing the NCAA provisional qualifying threshold for the event (14:17.53). Also finishing in the top ten of the field for the men's 5,000m were redshirt sophomore Caden Leal (14:53.53c – 7^th), redshirt sophomore Michael Burke Jr. (15:06.95c), and redshirt freshman Tyler Campbell (15:15.59c – 10^th).
• In the women's 5,000m race, redshirt sophomore Kaya Pillivant earned a second-place finish in the 18-person field with a season-best converted time of 17:30.66. Redshirt freshman Madison Brosig crossed the line not too long after Pillivant in a personal best time of 17:42.06 while sophomore Emma Montoya claimed fourth place in a personal best converted time of 17:48.79 and redshirt sophomore Abby Bartel took sixth place in a personal best converted time of 17:53.53.
• Freshman Jacob Silvis was the top Mountain Lion finisher in the men's 800m as he recorded a season-best converted time of 1:54.39 for a 14^th place finish in the 38-person field. On the women's side, redshirt freshman Olivia Sargent secured a 13^th place finish out of 37 runners with a converted time of 2:17.96.
• Redshirt freshman Jonas Graff led the Mountain Lions in the men's 1500m as he raced to a personal best converted time of 4:00.53 for a 14^th place finish out of 54 competitors. Freshman Alex Fernandez finished 22^nd overall with a converted time of 4:03.38, while redshirt freshman Colin Scheller ran a converted time of 4:05.41 for a 27^th place finish and redshirt sophomore TJ Saglembeni posted a personal best converted time of 4:06.03 to claim 28^th place.

BEYOND THE RESULTS

• UCCS recorded updates to the top five lists in the outdoor record book for six different events at the Jo Meaker Classic, including the women's 100m, men's and women's 200m, women's 100m hurdles, and men's and women's hammer throw.
  • Danaya Kinnard – Women's 100m (5^th all-time)
  • Sebastien Jean – Men's 200m (T3^rd all-time)
  • Danaya Kinnard – Women's 200m (2^nd all-time)
  • Payton Rodgers – Women's 100m Hurdles (5^th all-time)
  • Luke Hard – Men's Hammer Throw (School Record)
  • Michael Roberts – Men's Hammer Throw (3^rd all-time)
  • Savannah Jorgens – Women's Hammer Throw (School Record)
  • Victoria Malaki – Women's Hammer Throw (4^th all-time)
  • Bailey Young – Women's Hammer Throw (5^th all-time)

UP NEXT

• In their final tune up before the 2025 RMAC Outdoor Championships, the Mountain Lions will compete at the Mines Pre-Conference meet on April 18-19 in Golden, Colo.

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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.