GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Continuing the series of all-decade teams, the Colorado Mesa University Maverick track & field programs take center stage this week.  Both the men's and women's programs are on the rise, enjoying their best finishes in the tough Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference in recent years while also making a regular impact on the national scene.
 
Here's a look at the top athletes of the decade…
 
Men's
 
Nolan Ellis (2015-2019): As the most decorated Maverick in program-history, the pole vaulter out of Parker earned five USTFCCCA All-America honors while winning the 2018 NCAA Division II indoor title.  He also finished as the national runner-up on two other occasions and won four RMAC titles and nabbed seven USTFCCCA All-Region plaudits, amongst a long list of honors.
 
He is the CMU and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championship record-holder in both the indoor and outdoor pole vault and also soared to impressive heights in the classroom.  Ellis is the only 2-time CoSIDA Academic All-American in program history and was named as the USTFCCCA's NCAA Division II Indoor Field Scholar Athlete of the Year in 2018.
 
Spencer Jahr (2014-20): Jahr became CMU's track and field national champion, beating Ellis to that honor by approximately a span of two hours, when he won the heptathlon title at the 2018 NCAA Division II Indoor Championships on the same day that Ellis won his title.  The Casper, Wyoming native also claimed three total USTFCCCA All-America and three all-region honors during his career, which saw him set the CMU outdoor decathlon (7,145 points) and indoor heptathlon (5,552) records.
 
Jahr also won a RMAC title in the javelin and was a 5-time All-RMAC performer.  He ended his career amongst the Mavericks' top ten all-time performers in 16 different indoor and outdoor disciplines.
 
D'Angelo Foster (2016-19): After transferring from Mesa Community College, Foster made a quick impact on the program earning an all-America honor with a seventh place finish in the heptathlon at the 2017 NCAA Division II Indoor Championships, where he finished seventh with a then school-record 5,105 points.  The Gilbert, Arizona native also won a pair of RMAC Decathlon titles (2017, 2019) and earned six total All-RMAC honors in his two complete seasons as a Maverick, separated by his 2017-18 redshirt season.
 
Foster still holds the Mavericks' 60-meter indoor (8.06) and 110-meter outdoor (14.65) hurdling records as well as the program standard for the 1,000 meters (2:45.20) and ran a leg on CMU's 4x400-meter relay (3:17.79) school-record setting team in 2019.
 
Ethan Harris (2018-19): Although he competed for the Mavericks for just one year, Harris also had a big impact on the program becoming CMU's first national outdoor champion when he won the high jump with a school-record smashing mark of 2.20 meters (7 feet, 2 ½ inches) at the 2019 NCAA Division II meet.  The Victorville, California product, who redshirted in 2018, also holds the Mavs' indoor record of 2.15 meters (7-0.5) and won the RMAC outdoor title after earning indoor all-America honors with a sixth place finish.
 
He also picked up First Team All-RMAC and USTFCCCA All-Region honors during both the indoor and outdoor seasons in his time as a Maverick.
 
Shane Niksic (2011-15): Now an assistant coach for the Mavericks, Niksic became CMU's initial men's track & field all-American when he earned three combined honors during his 2015 senior indoor and outdoor seasons.  He took ninth and 12^th in the indoor and outdoor version of the 800 meters, respectively, while finishing seventh in the outdoor 1,500 meters.
 
The Conifer, Colorado native also became CMU's first national championship qualifier during the 2013 indoor season, one of four national meets he would appear in.  A founding member of the Maverick men's track & field program, Niksic finished his career with five All-RMAC honors and still holds the indoor (1:52.42) and outdoor (1:50.99) 800-meter school records and is one of the top relay runners in program history.  He also ran the 1,200-meter leg on CMU's distance medley relay school-record holding team.
 
Vernon Jackson (2016-Present): The Las Vegas, Nevada native, who is entering his fifth year on the Mavericks' roster, is the program's indoor (7.19 meters/23-7.25) and outdoor (7.36m/24-1.75) long jump school-record holder.  He won the 2017 RMAC indoor title in that event and has received a pair of USTFCCCA All-Region and All-RMAC honors thus far in his career.  He also ranks third on the Mavs' performance list for the 100 meters (10.80) and sixth for the 60 meters (6.97) and ran a leg on the school-record holding 4x100-meter relay team.
 
Andy Bowles (2015-19): The Silt native, who transferred to CMU after his freshman year at Division I Colorado State, won the 2016 RMAC indoor high jump title and earned eight total All-RMAC honors in his time as a Maverick.  He also ranks amongst the top-3 Mavericks in four different regularly contested disciplines and holds the fastest time in rarely-contested 55-meter indoor hurdles.
 
John Cusick (2014-17): Cusick had a strong middle-distance running career with the Mavericks and earned USTFCCCA All-America honors with a fourth place finish in the 1,500 meters at the 2017 NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships.  He also qualified for three other national meets and earned four All-RMAC certificates on the track.
 
The Bayfield, Colorado product still holds the 1,500-meter (3:49.33) and mile (4:09.33) school-records and teamed with Niksic to set the CMU standard in the distance medley relay back in 2013.

Trevor Jensen (2015-17): Jensen is the most decorated Maverick in the throwing events as the winner of a pair of RMAC titles in 2017.  He won the indoor weight throw and outdoor hammer throws that year and earned three All-RMAC certificates at the outdoor championships helping lead the Mavericks to a third place team finish, their best ever at a conference meet.
 
The Auburn, Washington native was also a 2-event USTFCCCA All-Region honoree in 2017 and was named to the RMAC All-Academic First Team during that year's indoor season.  He still holds the school-record in four throwing events (Indoor- Shot Put, Weight Throw & Outdoor- Shot Put & Hammer Throw).
 
Jordan Riggins (2012-14): Riggins became the CMU's first-ever RMAC men's track & field champion when he won the 100-meter title at the 2013 outdoor championships and can claim to be the fastest Maverick of all-time. The Fairfield, California native still holds the Maverick records for the 100 (10.70) and 200-meter outdoor (21.61) and indoor (21.84) school-records.  He also co-holds the indoor 60-meter mark of (6.92) and earned four total all-conference plaudits, including a pair of first team honors, in his two years as a Mav.
 
Honorable Mention: Cameron Morley, Roth Morgan, Daniel Vavrik
 
Women's
 
Alexis Skarda (2008-13): Skarda became CMU's initial track & field all-American and RMAC Champion in 2010 and ended up winning three RMAC titles, the most in program history, and the same number of USTFCCCA All-America honors during the second half of her career alone.  In 2010, she won the RMAC's indoor mile title before finishing fourth in that event at the NCAA Division II National Championships.  Later that spring, she won the RMAC title in the 1,500 meters before taking seventh at the NCAA Division II outdoor championships.
 
As a senior, she successfully defended her RMAC title in the indoor mile before claiming a national runner-up finish, the highest ever for a Maverick woman.  The Boulder, Colorado, native also earned three USTFCCA All-Region honors in 2011 and still holds six school-records.  Her program records of 2:18.48 (800m), 4:52.09 (Mile), 9:59.70 (3K) indoors and 4:2.84 (1500), 10:26.97 (3K) and 16:28.42 (5K) have stood the test of time and are the program's longest.
 
Whitney Rowe (2011-15): The Canadian sprinter and jumper out of Burnaby, British Columbia, claimed a program-record four overall USTFCCCA All-America honors, including two first team plaudits in the 200 meters.  She qualified for four straight combined indoor and outdoor national championship meets in that discipline over the 2014 and 2015 seasons, placing seventh at the 2014 outdoor championships before finishing third at the 2015 indoor championships.  She also had a pair of tenth place finishes in the 200 meters and long jump to cap her career at the 2015 NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships.
 
Rowe was also a 9-time all-region performer and is also the most decorated Maverick at the conference level as the winner of 20 total All-RMAC certificates.  She still holds the school-records in both the indoor and outdoor versions of the 200 meters and long jump.
 
Brooklynn York (2018-2020): A native of Denver, York took down Rowe's 60 and 100-meter school-records in 2019 while earning a pair of USTFCCCA All-America honors.  She finished seventh at the 2019 NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships after setting a wind-legal school-record time of 11.73 seconds in the finals.  She then broke the indoor 60-meter mark with a time of 7.51 seconds early in the 2019-20 indoor season, qualifying for the national championships, which would end up being canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
York was also a member of CMU's record-setting and RMAC-title winning 4x100-meter relay squad in 2019, the first Maverick relay team to ever qualify for a national championship.
 
York also earned two all-region and four all-conference honors and won two RMAC titles, taking the 60-meter win at the 2020 RMAC indoor championship in what ended up being the final meet of her pandemic-shortened career, which had included earlier stops at Colorado State and Chadron State.
 
Gabriella Casey (2015-19): The school-record holder in the indoor (3.79/12-5 ¼) and outdoor (3.92m/12-10 ¼)  pole vault, Casey qualified for two national championship meets and earned a Second Team USTFCCCA All-America honor when she finished in a tie for 12^th at the 2018 indoor national championships.  The Niwot, Colorado native was a mainstay in the RMAC pole vaulting elite, earning seven All-RMAC honors, including five first team accolades while winning the 2017 outdoor title.  She was also a 5-time USTFCCCA All-Region performer.
 
Bacall Sterling (2014-17): Sterling qualified for four NCAA Division II National Championship triple jumping competitions and holds the indoor (12.30m/40-4 ¼)  and wind-legal outdoor (12.23m/40-1 1/2) school-records.  A 4-time USTFCCA All-Region triple jumper, Sterling was a very versatile athlete, who claimed ten All-RMAC certificates in a variety of events, winning the 2016 RMAC outdoor title in the triple jump.
 
As a testament to that versatility, the Chandler, Arizona native who began her collegiate career at Sacramento State, also holds the indoor pentathlon (3,487), outdoor heptathlon (4,543), 400-meter hurdle (1:02.02) and outdoor 4x400-meter relay school-records.
 
Mekayla Winchester (2015-19): The Anchorage, Alaska native is the greatest sprint hurdler in Maverick history and holds both the indoor 60 (8.56) and outdoor 100-meter (14.19) school records by wide margins.  She was named as the 2016 RMAC Outdoor Freshman of the Year and claimed the 2018 RMAC indoor title in the 60-meter hurdles, good for one of her seven total All-RMAC certificates, which also reached into the pure sprinting events.
 
She was also a member of the 2019 RMAC Championship and national championship qualifying 4x100-meter relay team and stands fourth in program history for both the 100 and 200 meters outdoors. 
 
Lauren Lipski (2013-2018): The distance runner out of Littleton, Colorado was a 3-time USTFCCCA All-Region performer who qualified for both the 2016 and 2018 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships.  She also won the 5K title at the 2016 RMAC Indoor Championships and was a 2-time All-RMAC performer.
 
She also holds the school record in three events— Indoor 5K (17:41.80), Outdoor 10K (35:48.29) and indoor distance medley relay (12:27.73) and stands second in program history behind only Skarda in three other events.
 
She also shined academically and was a 5-time RMAC All-Academic First Team honoree, who is one of just two Maverick women to have ever earned a spot on the CoSIDA Academic All-District team.
 
Sarah Cerrone (2017-2020): Cerrone earned four All-RMAC honors in the high jump and holds the indoor and overall school-record of 1.69 meters (5-6 ½) while ranking second behind fellow all-decade team pick Quincey Pedersen by just a centimeter on the program's all-time outdoor list with a clearance of 1.67 meters (5-5 ¾).
 
A 2020 indoor all-region selection in what would be her final season, Cerrone graduated just three years, is also CMU's lone female CoSIDA Academic All-American in track & field history and earned a pair of USTFCCCA All-America honors.
 
Quincey Pedersen (2014-17): Pedersen holds the indoor school high jumping record of 1.68 meters (5-6) and earned USTFCCCA All-Region honors during both the indoor and outdoor seasons of 2014, her first as a Maverick after transferring from Division I Northern Colorado.  The Middle Park, Colorado native also earned two All-RMAC certificates and is tied for second on the program's all-time charts for the indoor high jump at 1.66 meters (5-5 ¼).
 
Cathryn Frame (Ambler) (2010-2014): The Kim, Colorado native earned seven total All-RMAC honors in the 400 meters and 4x400-meter relay, including a pair of first team honors as the conference runner-up in both the 2014 indoor and outdoor seasons.  During that year, her senior campaign, she set the Maverick school-record 400-meter times, which have since been matched (outdoor) and broken (indoor) by fellow all-decade team pick Jill Payne.  Frame later became an assistant coach for the Maverick cross country and track & field programs.
 
Jill Payne (2016-Present): With her senior year still to go, Payne has already earned five All-RMAC certificates and is the school-record holder or co-holder in four total events.  She holds the indoor 400-meter mark of 56.24 and co-holds the outdoor standard of 55.96 seconds with Frame.  A versatile sprinter, the Grand Junction native ranks in the Mavericks' top-10 in the 60, 100 and 200 meters and is a member of the school-recording setting 4x100-meter and indoor 4x400-meter relay squads.  She also won a 2019 RMAC title in the 4x100-meter relay while helping the Mavericks qualify for the national championships, the first CMU relay team to ever do so.
 
Honorable Mention: Alexia Chapman, Danielle Pickert, Erika White

Previous All-Decade Team Releases
Men's Basketball - Nov. 19
Women's Basketball - Nov. 12
Men's Wrestling - Nov. 5
Women's Swimming & Diving - Oct. 29
Men's Swimming & Diving - Oct. 29
Women's Soccer - Oct. 22
Men's Soccer - Oct. 15
Football – Oct. 8
Men's and Women's Tennis – Oct. 1
Volleyball – Sept. 24
Men's and Women's Cross Country – Sept. 17
Men's and Women's Golf – Sept. 10