FULL RELEASE
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO.—This past weekend, outdoor track & field teams in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) performed extremely well with several NCAA provisional and automatic standards hit.
TEAM HIGHLIGHTS
- Several squads went to the Colorado Invitational and West Texas A&M.
- Adams State posted two automatic qualifying and four provisional qualifying marks between the two meets.
- Black Hills State had three provisional qualifying marks at the Colorado Invitational.
- Colorado Christian sent a contingent.
- Chadron State saw Isaac Grimes lead the way by winning the long jump.
- Colorado They also had some runners at the Colorado Invitational where they had a provisional mark.
- Colorado School of Mines saw several personal bests at the Colorado Invitational and an automatic qualification.
- CSU-Pueblo also had a split squad with two provisional marks made between the two.
- MSU Denver had several top ten finishers and one provisional qualifier.
- South Dakota Mines posted one provisional qualifying mark.
- UCCS saw one provisional qualifier at CU and three provisional marks at the West Texas A&M.
- Western posted one provisional qualifier.
- Colorado Mesa, Fort Lewis, New Mexico Highlands and Western competed at the Don Kirby Tailwind Invitational hosted by the University of New Mexico.
- The Mavericks set two provisional qualifying marks and won 11 events.
- The Skyhawks had 22 top eight finishes.
- The Cowgirls also competed at the Jim Click Multis in Tucson, Arizona as they posted several top ten finishes.
RMAC ATHLETES OF THE WEEK
- At the West Texas A&M Classic & Multi this past weekend, UCCS' Kayla Zink posted two provisional marks as she took sixth place in the 200-meter and seventh place in the 100-meter to earn RMAC Track Athlete of the Week.
- Luke Julian of Colorado School of Mines ran the No. 2 1,500-meter time with an altitude-converted time of 3:42.98 (3:48.42 raw) in all of NCAA Division II this weekend in the very first race of his outdoor collegiate career and automatically qualified for the 2019 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships. He was named RMAC Men’s Track Athlete of the Week.
- Allan McDonnell of Black Hills State hit a provisional mark in the high jump and was named RMAC Men’s Field Athlete of the Week. He cleared 6'9.0" (2.06m) to take fifth at the CU Invitational. He is now first in the RMAC and tied for 15th in Division II.
- Annie Topal of New Mexico Highlands took over the No. 1 spot in Division II in the triple jump to be named RMAC Women’s Track and Field Athlete of the Week. She won the Don Kirby Invitational at the University of New Mexico on Saturday with a mark of 12.98 meters - 0.27 meters (nearly a foot) better than the No. 2 mark in Division II.
INDIVIDUAL HIGHLIGHTS
- Nick Nowlen of MSU Denver finished 11th overall, but third among Division II competitors in the 800 meters at the Colorado Invitational, with a converted time of 1:55.97 that ranks 12th among RMAC competitors this season. Nowlen was the RMAC's Co-Freshman of the Year indoors after qualifying for nationals in the 800.
- Isaac Grimes of Chadron State remained undefeated. He jumped 25 feet, 7 ¼ inches to top the field of 32 entries from 13 schools. It's his career best outdoors by 1 ¼ inches and his second automatic mark of the season.
- D'Angelo Foster of Colorado Mesawon both the 110 and 400-meter hurdles on Saturday at the Don Kirby Tailwind Invitational in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His 110-meter time of 14.74 seconds was just off his own school-record of 14.68 and ranks him second in the RMAC.
- Jonathon Murray also had a good weekend, taking sixth in the men's 400-meter dash clocking a time of 47.93 and was the top Div. II sprinter in the event at the CU Invite in Boulder. Murray is now ranked first in the RMAC. He was also a member of the 4x400 team that took third place Saturday in a time of 3:17.47. Murray was also on the men's 4x100 team, which took 41.94 and took sixth place.
- Competing in the open 200 meter and 400 meter at the Don Kirby Tailwing Open, Juman Randall of Western placed in both evernts and ran the top time for Western in both events. In the 200 meter Randall ran a time of 22.33 seconds, placing fifth overall. Randall also placed fifth in the open 400 meter after running 49.08 seconds.
- Deshon Elcock continues to post top times for UCCS as he sprinted to a 5th place time of 21.18 in the 200m, at the West Texas A&M Classic & Multi this past weekend. His 200m time provisionally qualified him for outdoor nationals as he currently ranks 9th in DII, and 1st in the RMAC. Elcock also finished strong in the 100m dash as he finished with a 6th place time of 10.65.
- Ethan Harris recorded a school-record and NCAA provisional qualifying jump of 2.05 meters (6-8.75) to win the high jump for Colorado Mesa at Saturday's Don Kirby Tailwind Invitational. That mark ranks him second in the RMAC and tied for 18th nationally.
- Rhys Ryba won both the shot put and the discus at the Don Kirby Tailwind Open for Western Ryba threw a huge personal best in the shot put with a heave of 16.40 meters (53' 9.75"). PIn the discus, Ryba threw for 40.50 meters (131' 5").
- Dakota Abbott of UCCS registered two top-3 finishes and one provisional mark over the weekend at the West Texas A&M Classic & Multi. In the triple jump, Abbott leaped to a provisional mark of 14.70m to place him third in the meet, while giving him the 21st best mark in DII and the 2nd best mark in the RMAC. Abbott also recorded a third-place finish in the long jump with a mark of 6.93m, ranking 6th best in the RMAC.
- Jacob Smith of CSU-Pueblo won the decathlon with 6124 total points. He totaled five event wins with two on Friday and three Saturday. Friday, he won the high jump with a mark of 1.86m (6' 1.25") to score 679 points. He also won the long jump to score 767 points on a leap of 6.80m (22' 3.75"). Saturday, the senior was the top in the group in the discus throw with a toss of 34.15m (112' 0") to score 547 points, he won the 1500m run with a time of 5:06.21 for 524 points and he tied for first in the pole vault with a mark of 4.14m (13' 7") for 656 points.
- Bree Wellington of MSU Denver finished among the top 10 Division II competitors in three events at the Colorado Invitational, fourth in the 200, sixth in the 100 and eighth in the high jump. Wellington ran the 100 in 12.83 seconds, the 200 in 26.12 and went 5-1 1/4 in the high jump.
- Jill Payne of Colorado Mesa won the 400 meters by nearly three seconds at the Don Kirby Tailwind Invitational with a time of 56.19 seconds. She also anchored the Mavs' to a 4x400-meter relay win as the team posted a time of 3:54.04.
- At the Colorado Invitational, Alicja Konieczek of Western had the top performance for the Mountaineers after finishing fourth in the women's 1,500 meter. Konieczek ran a time of 4:28.40, fast enough to give her a NCAA National provisional qualifying mark.
- Hailey Streff of CSU-Pueblo ran a PR and an NCAA provisional time in the 1500m run at the Colorado Invitational. Her time of 4:39.64 was 16th in the race and ranks 19th in Division II after being converted to 4:32.98.
- Gina Coleman of Colorado School of Mines broke her own program record in the discus with a mark of 52.52 meters (172-4.0). Coleman finished second in a field of 26 competitors. She was the top DII performer as the first-place thrower hailed from DI Colorado State.
- Gabriella Casey of Colorado Mesa broke her own school-record and set a NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 3.75 meters (12-3.5) to win the pole vault on Saturday at the Don Kirby Tailwind Invitational in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
- Erica Keeble set a new South Dakota Mines school record during the women's pole vault Saturday after winning the event (three-way tie) at the CU Spring Invite, clearing a height of 3.81 meters.
- In the long jump at the Don Kirby Tailwind Open Jenai Vickers of Western finished fifth with a jump of 5.30 meters (17' 4.75").
- Kaija Crowe of UCCS registered a PR and a provisional qualifying mark at the West Texas A&M Classic & Multi over the weekend, as she finished in first place in the women's heptathlon with 4,770 points. Crowe grabbed first place in four of the seven events as she currently ranks 7th in DII, and ranks 1st in the RMAC in the women's heptathlon.