PUEBLO, Colo. –  The University of Colorado Colorado Springs track & field team competed at a pair of in-state meets on Friday and Saturday with the men's and women's squads combining to win nine events and post seven NCAA provisional qualifying marks across the two locations.
 
INSIDE THE CHUCK HAERING INVITATIONAL
Location: CSUP ThunderBowl | Pueblo, Colo.
Elevation: 4,848 ft
 
INSIDE THE JACK CHRISTIANSEN INVITATIONAL
Location: Jack Christiansen Track | Fort Collins, Colo.
Elevation: 5,081 ft
 
HOW IT HAPPENED | CHUCK HAERING INVITATIONAL

• Freshman Kate Henderson notched the first NCAA provisional qualifying mark of the day for the Mountain Lions as she raced to an altitude-converted time of 10:48.07 in her first collegiate appearance in the 3,000m steeplechase, besting the 13-person field by more than 10 full seconds for a first-place finish. Redshirt juniors Megan Ericksen and Audrey Brunken also had strong performances in the event with Ericksen finishing just over three-tenths of a second off the provisional qualifying threshold with a personal best converted time of 10:59.33 for a second place finish and Brunken coming up just over four seconds shy of the provisional mark in the event with a third-place converted time of 11:03.29.
• The Mountain Lions added another NCAA provisional qualifying mark in the men's 4x100m relay as freshman Michael Ryan Cruzado, freshman Noah Brown, junior Zamari Burrell, and senior Daryn Ofori-Kuragu carried the baton around the track in a converted time of 40.67s to finish first overall in the five-team competition.
• Junior Krissie Sanders led a strong stable of five women's student-athletes in the 400m hurdles as she circled the track in an NCAA provisional qualifying converted time of 1:00.30 for a first place finish out of 11 competitors in the event. Redshirt senior Gigi Douillard raced to a fourth-place finish as she posted a personal best converted time of 1:02.45, while senior Abigail Frey improved her personal best in the event for the second straight week with a fifth-place converted mark of 1:02.52. Freshmen Colette Bibeault and Michelle Headley competed in the 400m hurdles for the first time in their respective collegiate careers and put forth strong efforts with Bibeault claiming sixth place in a converted time of 1:03.35 and Headley taking eighth place in a converted time of 1:06.02.
• UCCS had two of the top three finishers in the men's long jump as redshirt sophomore Josiah Billington took first place overall with a personal best NCAA provisional qualifying leap of 7.43m and redshirt freshman Luguse Nuss securing third place overall with a personal best jump of 7.27m. The Mountain Lions also found strong success in the women's long jump competition as they claimed four of the top five position in the event, including junior Maylee Thompson as the first-place finisher with a personal best mark of 5.82m. Junior Brielle Bracken earned a share of second place in the event with a personal best leap of 5.51m, while redshirt seniors Madissyn Moore and Chelsea Howard claimed the fourth and fifth positions with jumps of 5.49m and 5.41m, respectively.
• Junior Dallis Robinson added one more NCAA provisional qualifying mark in the women's high jump as she cleared a bar height of 1.68m to finish second overall in the 20-person field. Freshman Evelyn McClellan also notched a top-five finish in the event as she claimed fifth overall in the event with a mark of 1.58m.
• The Mountain Lions placed four student-athletes inside the top five of the men's 400m dash with freshman Joshua Gross crossing the finish line first overall in converted time of 47.83s. Gross was followed in the event standings by senior Sebastien Jean in third place with a converted time of 48.47s, freshman Revano Plummer in fourth place with a converted time of 48.59s, and redshirt junior Andrew Muncy in fifth place with a converted time of 48.60s.
• Competing in the outdoor 400m dash for the first time in her collegiate career, junior Lilyana Delagarza put forth an impressive showing as she finished first overall in the 14-person field with a converted time of 56.93s.
• Three of the Mountain Lions' four legs from the men's 4x100m relay returned to the track later in the day to compete in the 100m dash and it was Brown who put on an individual show as he surged to a first-place finish in the event with a season and personal best converted time of 10.48s while Cruzado raced to a fourth-place finish in the event with a converted time of 10.61s and Burrell took eighth place in a converted time of 10.80s. Billington and junior TJ Nissen also finished inside the top 10 of the 38-person competition with Billington clocking a personal best converted time of 10.83 for a ninth place finish and Nissen posting a converted time of 10.86s for a 10^th place finish.
• Bibeault and senior Brooke Peterson secured the top two spots in the women's pole vault competition as both vaulters cleared a bar height of 3.75m. For Bibeault, the bar clearance marked a season and personal best in the event, while Peterson was just shy of her season-best provisional qualifying mark of 3.79m that she attained last weekend in the outdoor opener.
• Redshirt junior Kaya Pillivant led the Mountain Lions in the women's 5,000m as she finished third overall out of 25 runners in the event with a personal best converted time of 17:04.24. Pillivant had a pair of teammates right on her tail as Freshman Elizabeth McQuitty claimed fourth place with a converted time of 17:10.62 and redshirt junior Maddie Ruszkiewicz secured fifth place with a converted time of 17:11.97.
• Prior to her standout performance in the 400m hurdles, Sanders also led the Mountain Lions in the women's 100m hurdles as she raced to a personal best converted time of 14.17s for a second-place finish in the 13-person field.
• Junior TJ Nissen put together a personal best showing in the men's 200m dash as he posted a converted time of 21.80s to finish sixth overall out of 38 competitors, while redshirt junior KJ McInnis ran the first 200m dash of his collegiate career and posted a converted time of 21.85s that was good for seventh place.
• Redshirt sophomore Madison Brosig paced the Mountain Lions in the women's 1500m as she finished fourth overall with a personal best converted time of 4:32.55. Finishing directly behind Brosig in fifth place was junior Emma Montoya, who posted a personal best converted time of 4:35.74. In the men's 1500m, Elijah Dafoe was the top finisher for UCCS as he took third place in a converted time of 3:56.41.
• In the women's 800m, UCCS had a pair of strong performances as redshirt sophomore Olivia Sargent placed third overall out of 16 competitors with a converted time of 2:16.27 and redshirt freshman Ceanna Dietz claimed fourth place overall in a converted time of 2:17.74.
• A pair of Mountain Lions logged top five finishes in the men's 5,000m race as redshirt junior Koy Cunningham took fourth place with a personal best converted time of 14:41.88 and redshirt junior Turner Schad secured fifth place with a converted time of 14:50.39.
• Freshman Katie Jewell was the top finisher for UCCS in the women's 100m dash as she posted a season and personal best converted time of 12.04s that was good for sixth overall in the 39-person field. Earlier in the day, Jewell raced as the anchor of the Mountain Lions' women's 4x100m relay as she teams up with junior Taryn Fettig, redshirt senior Madissyn Moore, and junior Zane Bullock for a third place finish out of six teams in the relay with a converted time of 46.72s.
• In the women's 200m dash, freshman Emili Voelker shaved nearly three-tenths of a second off her previous personal best in the event as she finished eighth overall out of 38 competitors with a converted time of 25.29s.
• Sophomore Alex Emers earned a second place finish overall out of 10 competitors in the men's high jump as she cleared a bar height of 2.00m in his outdoor season debut.
• Redshirt freshman Jacob Kinne led the way for UCCS in the men's 800m, finishing seventh overall out of 23 runners with a converted time of 1:55.25.
• Junior Spencer Shuler was the lone Mountain Lion competing in the men's 400m hurdles and he posted a third place finish out of 15 competitors in the event with a converted time of 55.50s.
• In the men's 110m hurdles, freshman Xavier Sutherlin was the third overall finisher in the 15-person field as he clocked a converted time of 15.09s, while junior Tre Garcia took sixth place in the event with a converted time of 15.50s.
• The Mountain Lions had a group of combined athletes competing in the men's pole vault as part of their preparation for the decathlon and saw freshman Luke Masterson finish second overall with a bar clearance of 4.45m, while senior Dillon Arvayo and junior Evan Atkin finished tied for third with identical marks of 4.30m.

HOW IT HAPPENED | JACK CHRISTIANSEN INVITATIONAL

• The Mountain Lions kicked off the Jack Christiansen Invitational on Friday afternoon with the hammer throw and saw senior Michael Roberts post an NCAA provisional qualifying toss of 57.68m in his outdoor season debut for a third place finish out of 21 throwers in the men's competition. Junior Hayden Cuevas opened his outdoor season with an eighth-place mark of 55.16m, while junior James Bronzwaig took ninth place with a toss of 50.84m. Sophomores Trevor Moore and Alex Johnson rounded out the competitors for the Mountain Lions as Moore finished in 11^th place with a mark of 45.87m and Johnsons claimed 13^th place with a toss of 43.48m.
• In the women's hammer throw, redshirt junior Grace Solarin earned a fifth place finish out of 18 throwers as she posted a personal best mark of 51.79m, while senior Savannah Jorgens finished right behind her in sixth place with a toss of 51.36m in her first outdoor competition of the season.
• Solarin returned to the throws ring on Saturday and made another strong impression as she posted a personal best and NCAA provisional qualifying toss of 46.14m in the women's discus throw for an eighth-place finish in the 20-person competition. Earlier in the day, Solarin also notched a personal best throw of 13.05m in the women's shot put to secure a seventh place finish out of 18 competitors in the event. Jorgens was the sixth-place finisher in the women's shot put as she posted a mark of 13.07m, while sophomore Jaedyn Kohn took 10^th place with a toss of 12.15m and freshman Carley Malinowski placed 12^th overall with a mark of 11.69m.
• Senior Kyle Demos notched a fourth place finish out of 23 competitors in the men's discus throw as he unleashed a toss of 49.50m, while sophomore Joseph Bjegovich took 10^th place in a mark of 42.82m and freshman Cam Bruns secured 12^th place with a toss of 40.24m.
• In the men's shot put, redshirt junior Kane Fobare was the top Mountain Lion finisher as he claimed sixth place out of 16 throwers in the event with a mark of 15.88m. Bruns and Bjegovich also doubled down in the shot put as Bruns claimed seventh place with a mark of 14.84m and Bjegovich took ninth place with a personal best toss of 13.66m.

BEYOND THE RESULTS

• UCCS recorded updates to the top five lists in the outdoor record book for nine different events across their action at the Chuck Haering Invitational and Jack Christiansen Invitational this weekend, including the men's 100m, women's 400m, women's 100m hurdles, women's 400m hurdles, women's high jump, women's pole vault, women's shot put, women's discus throw, and men's hammer throw.
  • Noah Brown: Men's 100m – 10.45 (T5^th all-time)
  • Lilyana Delagarza: Women's 400m – 56.82 (5^th all-time)
  • Krissie Sanders: Women's 100m Hurdles – 14.13 (3^rd all-time)
  • Gigi Douillard: Women's 400m Hurdles – 1:02.34 (3^rd all-time)
  • Abigail Frey: Women's 400m Hurdles – 1:02.41 (4^th all-time)
  • Dallis Robinson: Women's High Jump – 1.68m (T3^rd all-time)
  • Colette Bibeault: Women's Pole Vault – 3.75m (4^th all-time)
  • Grace Solarin: Women's Shot Put – 13.05m (5^th all-time)
  • Grace Solarin: Women's Discus Throw – 46.14m (3^rd all-time)
  • James Bronzwaig: Men's Hammer Throw – 50.84m (5^th all-time)

UP NEXT

• The UCCS track & field team will split up next weekend as a group of distance runners will head to the west coast for the Stanford Invitational on April 3-4 while the remainder of the team heads to the Lone Star State for the 98th Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays and the Bobcat Invitational, which will take place on April 2-4.  

 
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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.