DENTON, Texas – Competing among wet and windy conditions inside University of North Texas' Soccer and Track & Field Stadium in Denton, Texas, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs track and field team came away with a handful of strong performances at the Bill Schmidt Invite on Saturday including NCAA provisional qualifying marks from senior Luke Hard in the men's hammer throw and junior Kyle Demos in the men's shot put.
 
INSIDE THE BILL SCHMIDT INVITE
Location: UNT Soccer and Track & Field Stadium | Denton, Texas
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Senior Luke Hard posted an NCAA provisional qualifying mark in the men's hammer throw for the second consecutive week as he finished second overall out of 25 throwers in the event with a personal best toss of 58.25m. Junior Michael Roberts also reached a new personal best in the event with a third-place toss of 56.96m that was just shy of the NCAA provisional qualifying threshold (57.13m), while sophomore Hayden Cuevas took sixth place overall at a mark of 52.90m.
• The Mountain Lions saw another NCAA provisional qualifying mark come from the men's shot put competition as junior Kyle Demos recorded a toss of 17.00m to finish second overall among 17 total competitors in the event.
• Sophomore Ashton Whisler logged a second place finish out of 45 competitors in the men's 400m dash as he raced to a time of 49.14s. Not far behind him was junior Sebastien Jean in sixth place overall with a time of 50.10s.
• The Mountain Lions placed two student-athletes inside the top five of a 15-person field for the women's triple jump with freshman Payton Rodgers claiming fourth place with a leap of 11.36m and junior Kathryn Carroll taking fifth place with a jump of 11.22m.  
• Senior Victoria Malaki was the top finisher for UCCS in the women's hammer throw as she posted a season best mark of 48.55m to finish third overall out of 25 competitors.
• Junior Bailey Young also competed in the women's hammer throw and logged an eighth-place finish with a mark of 43.77m, but her best performance of the day came in the women's shot put where she notched a third place finish out of 19 throwers with a heave of 12.85m.
• In the men's 4x100m relay, sophomore Gunnar Betts, junior Daryn Ofori-Kuragu, Jean, and senior Kymani Sterling carried the baton around the track in a time of 41.86s to take second place overall among a field of eight competing squads.
• Prior to racing in the 4x100m relay, Betts and Ofori-Kuragu took to the straightaway lanes in the preliminary round of the men's 100m dash with Betts coming up one spot short of qualifying for the event final with wind-aided time of 10.71s that put him ninth overall out of 67 sprinters and Ofori-Kuragu holding down 18^th place with a time of 10.80s.
• In his first action of the outdoor season in the men's pole vault, redshirt senior Caiden Macktinger finished in a tie for third place with a bar clearance of 4.75m.
• Sophomore Krissie Sanders was the top finisher for UCCS in the preliminary round women's 100m hurdles as she recorded a wind-aided time of 14.61s to finish seventh overall in the 29-person field and qualify for the event final, which she ultimately did not participate in. Rodgers also put forth a solid effort in the event, finishing in 11^th place with a time of 14.94s.
• Sophomore Danaya Kinnard paced the Mountain Lions in the women's 200m dash as she sprinted to a wind-aided time of 25.23s to finish eighth overall in the 39-person field. Senior Victoria Farinas crossed the finish line just after Kinnard, taking 10^th place with a wind-aided time of 25.60s. On the men's side of the 200m dash, Sterling continued his afternoon with a wind-aided time of 22.26s for a 14^th place finish out of 44 competitors in the event.
• At the women's long jump runway, redshirt junior Madissyn Moore was the highest finisher from UCCS as she grabbed an eighth place finish in the 33-person field with a leap of 5.37m.
• Redshirt sophomore KJ McInnis collected a second-place finish among 11 competitors in the men's high jump as he tied his season best for the event with a bar clearance of 1.90m. McInnis also competed in the men's long jump, where he took 11^th place out of 28 jumpers with a leap of 6.64m.
• Freshman Realiti Smith joined McInnis as a competitor in the men's long jump and proceeded to finish 17^th in the event with a mark of 6.26m. The first-year jumper was also in action in the men's triple jump as he took fifth place out of 13 participants with a leap of 13.99m.
• In the women's 100m dash, sophomore Zane Bullock matched her season best with a wind-aided time of 12.26s that placed her 21^st overall out of 44 sprinters in the event.

BEYOND THE RESULTS

• UCCS recorded updates to the top five lists in the outdoor record book for three different events at the Bill Schmidt, including the men's pole vault and men's hammer throw.
  • Caiden Macktinger – Men's Pole Vault (T4^th all-time)
  • Luke Hard – Men's Hammer Throw (2^nd all-time)
  • Michael Roberts – Men's Hammer Throw (3^rd all-time)

UP NEXT

• The Mountain Lions will compete at a pair of meets next weekend with the sprinters, jumpers, and throwers heading to Canyon, Texas for West Texas A&M University's Jo Meaker Classic on April 10-12 and the distance runners traveling to nearby Golden, Colo., for Colorado School of Mines' Kit Mayer Classic on April 12.

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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.