The men’s and women’s track and field teams had 17 NCAA division II provisional marks and won 13 events at the Colorado Running Company Mountain Lion Open on Feb. 15. 

The final regular season meet is the RMAC Last Chance Meet on Feb. 21 at Western Colorado. UCCS will host the men’s and women’s RMAC Indoor Championships on Feb. 28 and March 1. 

Broken Records 

In the 4000m women’s distance medley relay, redshirt senior Kate Hedlund (1200m), sophomore Krissie Sanders (400m), redshirt senior Rachel Goodrich (800m) and senior Anna Fauske (mile) broke the Mountain Lions Fieldhouse facility record with a raw time of 11 minutes 46.39 seconds. 

Accounting for the altitude converted time, the women ran a NCAA provisional qualifying time of 11:23.59. The time is the third best in RMAC this season. “Just to be able to contribute and do my part, and then see all my teammates run really well was really fun,” Hedlund said.  

For the men’s pole vault, redshirt senior Caiden Macktinger broke his indoor school record earning him a season best NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 5.18m, finishing first overall. 

Provisional Qualifying Marks 

• In the women’s triple jump, freshman Payton Rodgers leaped a personal best of 12.06m to gain first place in the event. “With triple jump, I really just need to work on my long jump phase, which is the third phase in the pit, because I’m known for diving, but I feel like I’ve executed pretty well so far,” Rodgers said. 

• Junior Kyle Demos won first place in the men’s shot put with a throw of 16.82m. Not only did he qualify for an NCAA provisional mark, but he threw consistently above 16.40m in his last five throws. 

• Junior Daryn Ofori-Kuragu and senior Richard Safoh were the first two across the line in the men’s 60m dash final. Ofori-Kuragu finished first with a time of 6.82 seconds with Safoh just behind with 6.84 seconds. The times were the first NCAA qualifying marks of the season for either athlete. 

• Junior KJ McInnis won first place in both men’s long and triple jump. He leaped 7.17m in the long jump and 14.67m in the triple. 

• Junior Kseniya Nikanorov placed first in the women’s 5000m with a personal best converted time of 17:05.5. 

• In the men’s mile, junior Joseph Impellitteri placed first with a time of 4:08.15. 

• In the men’s high jump, freshman Alex Emers hit a NCAA provisional qualifying mark. He hit a bar clearance of 2.04m, which placed him second.   

• Sophomore Nigel James placed second in the men’s 60m hurdles final, obtaining a new personal best of 7.97 seconds. 

• Senior Luke Hard got second place in the men’s weight throw with an 18.76m throw. Junior Michael Roberts placed third with an 18.38m toss. 

• Junior Brooke Peterson placed third in the women’s pole vault flying over 3.79m. 

• Sanders and senior Victoria Farinas recorded NCAA provisional qualifying marks. Sanders ran 8.81 seconds in the 60m hurdles while Farinas clocked 7.54 seconds in the 60m dash final.  

Other Standings 

• The Mountain Lions took the top three spots in the women’s mile. Redshirt senior Rachel Richtman was first with a converted time of 4:55.92, which was less than half a second away from gaining a provisional qualifying time. 

• In the men’s 200m dash, sophomore Luke Trinrud ran 21.97 seconds to gain first and sophomore Ashton Whisler with 21.99 seconds to place second. 

• After the women’s distance medley relay, Hedlund finished first in the women’s 800m with a converted time of 2:14.60. 

• In the men’s 5000m, redshirt sophomore Caden Leal got second place whilst hitting his personal best of 14:27.69. 

• Redshirt junior Gigi Douillard finished second in the women’s 400m dash with a 58.98 second run. Two Mountain Lions trailed behind her: sophomore Lilyana Delagarza getting third place with a 59.60 second run, and senior Alyssa Lopez obtaining fourth with a 59.76 second run. 

• In the women’s high jump, sophomore Dallis Robinson hit a personal best of 1.65m to put her in fourth.  

• In the women’s 3000m, redshirt freshman Madison Brosig hit a personal best, a converted time of 9:56.65. 

• Junior Savannah Jorgens took fourth place in women’s weight throw with a 16.76m toss.  

Editor’s Note: Joseph Impellitteri is Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Scribe. 

Distance runner Madison Brosig won the women’s 3000m. Photo by Lillian Davis.