GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— After taking last weekend off, the Colorado Mesa University indoor track and field teams will resume their season this week competing in the Albuquerque Convention Center at the University of New Mexico's Don Kirby Elite Invitational on Thursday and Friday.
Meet Details
The Mavericks have entered a contingent of 41 athletes (23 men, 18 women) for the 2-day meet at one of the top indoor facilities in the country. In fact, immediately after the Don Kirby Elite Invitational wraps up on Friday, the site will play host the USA Track & Field Indoor Championships, which begin Friday at 5:10 p.m., around two hours after the UNM meet is scheduled to wrap up.
A large meet with athletes from a multitude of programs, including mostly NCAA Division I institutions, will compete in the Don Kirby Elite Invitational, which is slated to get underway with several field events at 1 p.m. on Thursday afternoon. The running events will begin at 2:30 p.m. with the final event, the women's 200 meters set to go off at 5:30 p.m. There are 132 athletes entered in that women's 200 meters and 26 heats are expected to be run, a microcosm of the meet's overall size.
On Friday, action will begin at 8:30 a.m. with the shot put. The running events will begin at 9:30 a.m. with the qualifying round of the 60-meter hurdles and 60-meter dashes. The top eight times in those qualifying rounds will advance to join the top 16 seeded athletes in the 24-person semifinal round.
All other running events will be contested in sections against time.
A complete meet schedule, the meet program and a link to live results can be accessed through UNM's Home Meet Information webpage at:
https://golobos.com/sports/2019/4/29/2020_track_home_meets.aspx?path=track
FloTrack will also have a live stream on
their subscription-based platform.
Last Time Out
Maverick junior
Sarah Cerrone and redshirt freshman
Justin Thompson swept the high jump events to lead the Mavericks at the Mines Winter Classic & Multi at the Colorado School of Mines' Steinhauer Fieldhouse on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1.
Cerrone cleared 1.66 meters (5 feet, 5 ¼ inches) to take the women's win, her second of the season, while Thompson cleared 2.05 meters (6-8.75) to claim his third men's win in four tries.
Both lead the conference with slightly better and NCAA provisional qualifying season-bests from earlier in the season. Cerrone cleared a school-record 1.67 meters (5-5 ¾) while Thompson has cleared 2.07 meters (6-9.5) to rank second in indoor program history only behind 2019 National Outdoor Champion and Indoor all-American
Ethan Harris.
Additionally,
Chian DeLoach placed second in the women's long jump on the first day of the meet while
Brock Murphy did the same in the men's weight throw.
Best distance night ever?
The Mavericks posted what was arguably their best distance running night in program history on the opening day of the Mines Winter Classic & Multi on Jan. 31 as five different Maverick 5,000-meter runners posted new program all-time top 10 marks in indoor track & field's longest race.
In the women's event,
Cheney Singer finished second in her heat and third overall with a time of 18:53.69 to improve her No. 4 position in CMU history.
Ashlyn Brent (19:06.22),
Lindsay Parsons (19:47.38) and
Mary McCullough (20:07.20 all set personal bests as well and now sit fifth, sixth and ninth on the all-time charts.
Trevor Smith also moved into the No. 8 spot on the Mavericks' men's charts with a time of 16:10.47.
The momentum continued into the second day of the meet (Feb. 1) as Smith finished the mile in 4:36.50 to move into the No. 7 spot in Maverick lore for that discipline.
Tony Torres won his section of that event in 4:24.62, just off his second-ranked PR time of 4:24.04.
Heptathlete
Casey McDaniel also improved his No. 3 time in the 1,000 meters as he won the final event of that 7-event competition in 2:48.69.
#EventSquad Rankings
The Maverick women are ranked in the nation's top 10 in three separate events according to Tuesday's USTFCCCA #EventSquad rankings. Those rankings, which measure a team's quality and depth in a particular event are figured by summing the top four marks from four different athletes in a given event this season.
CMU is ranked fifth in both the 60 meters (30.90 seconds), and triple jump (45.67 meters) and stands seventh in the long jump with a 4-person cumulative total of 22.24 meters. A complete ranking can be at
http://www.ustfccca.org/assets/rankings/2020_witf_d2_tfri_week3_evsq_team_summary.pdf.
Speaking of Rankings
The Maverick women also sit sixth in the overall team rankings that the USTFCCCA compiles for each region. CMU, which is now ranked 42nd nationally, is in the South Central Regional rankings. More information about those index rankings can be found at
http://www.ustfccca.org/2020/02/featured/2020-ncaa-dii-womens-indoor-track-field-rating-index-week-3.
NCAA Qualfiers
Thus far this season, the Mavericks have had seven different individuals set a combined nine NCAA qualifying marks in seven different events. Newcomer
Justin Thompson and sophomore
Chian DeLoach have two marks each.
Here's a look at the Mavericks' NCAA qualifiers along with their current national rank can be found below.
A total of 270 athletes of each gender will eventually be selected for the NCAA Division II Championships, which will be contested March 13-14 in Birmingham, Alabama. Those selections will be based upon their final rank on the national performance lists. The desired minimum field size for each event is 16 for individual events, 14 for the combined events and 12 for relays.
Complete and updated national qualifying list can be seen on
TFRRS.
Men (2 individuals, 3 marks, 3 events)
High Jump-
Justin Thompson (T-15
th, 2.07m/6-9.5)
Triple Jump-
Justin Thompson (15
th, 14.79m/48-6.25)
Heptathlon-
Dawson Heide (17
th, 5066*)
Women (5 individuals, 6 marks, 4 events)
60m-
Brooklynn York (T-10
th, 7.55*),
Rachel Crutcher (T-36
th, 7.67*)
High Jump-
Sarah Cerrone (T-27
th, 1.67m/5-5.75)
Long Jump-
Chian DeLoach (T-23
rd, 5.70m/18-8.5)
Triple Jump-
Kiana Jackson (6
th, 12.22m/40-1.25),
Chian DeLoach (T-15
th, 12.03m/39-5.75)
*-denotes altitude-converted mark
Top 10's
At the Mines Winter Classic & Multi, the Maverick squads combined to set 16 new marks on the program's top-10 all time performer charts. They had also set 15 such marks at each of their two previous meets (Colorado Running Company UCCS Invite & The Power 5) to book-end the holiday break after setting 31 such marks during the opening week of the season.
A listing of the 15 new performances from the Mines Winter Classic & Multi can be seen below. A complete list of the updated top 10 charts can be seen here (
MEN –
WOMEN).
Men
60m-
Jeremiah Wilson (T-7
th, 6.99)
Mile-
Trevor Smith (7
th, 4:36.50)
3000m-
Trevor Smith (8
th, 16:10.47)
60m Hurdles-
Nate Hanson (4
th, 8.34)
Long Jump-
Justin White (T-5
th, 6.90m/22-7.75) &
Justin Thompson (10
th, 6.64m/21-9.5)
Weight Throw-
Brock Murphy (3
rd, 16.71m/54-10)
1000m-
Casey McDaniel (3
rd, 2:48.69)
Women
60m-
Rachel Crutcher (5
th, 7.75),
Sierra Arceneaux (6
th, 7.76) &
Chian DeLoach (9
th, 7.88)
5000m-
Cheney Singer (4
th, 18:53.69),
Ashlyn Brent (5
th, 19:06.22),
Lindsay Parsons (7
th, 19:47.25) &
Mary McCullough (9
th, 20:07.20)
Pentathlon-
Mica Jenrette (4
th, 3127)
Conference Leaders
The Mavericks continue to have four individual athletes who lead the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference's season-long performances Here are those leaders. To view the complete performance lists, please see:
https://www.tfrrs.org/lists/2813/RMAC_Indoor_Performance_List/2020/i
Men
High Jump-
Justin Thompson (2.07m, 6-9.5)
Women
60m-
Brooklynn York (7.55*)
200m-
Rachel Crutcher (24.88*)
High Jump-
Sarah Cerrone (1.67m/5-5.75)
*-Altitude adjusted time
Up Next
The Mavericks are currently scheduled to compete at the Western Colorado Alumni Open on Feb. 22 and to send a small contingent to the Air Force Collegiate Open the day earlier. However, they are exploring possible alternate plans in hopes of qualifying athletes for the upcoming RMAC and NCAA Division II Indoor Championships.
