SPEARFISH, S.D.— Led by sprinters Sierra Arceneaux and McKenna Molder, who won individual titles before combining with Jill Payne and Mica Jenrette to win the 4x400-meter relay, the Colorado Mesa University women's indoor track and field team recorded their best-ever Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference finish taking second at the 2021 indoor championships, which wrapped up Sunday here at Black Hills State University's Donald E. Young Center Field House.
 
Arceneaux won the 200 meters in a NCAA Division II Championship qualifying time of 24.68 seconds after taking second in the 60-meter dash in another NCAA qualifying time of 7.59 seconds.  Meanwhile, Molder won the 400 meters after placing fourth in the 60-meter hurdles. 
 
The relay team then smashed the school-record with an NCAA qualifying time of 3:52.62 to win the event by more than three seconds as the Mavericks finished with 110 team points, 32 more than their previous school-record of 78, set last year when the Mavericks had their previous best finish of fourth.
 
The relay team's time, which converts to 3:50.02, also puts the Mavericks eighth on the national performance list to likely earn a spot in next month's NCAA Division II National Championships when the final list of qualifiers is announced on Tuesday afternoon.  The Mavs' flat time was also three seconds quicker than the former school-record of 3:55.75, a team than included Molder and Payne on Dec. 8, 2018.
 
UCCS won the team title with 216 while the Mavericks finished well ahead of the third-place hosts, who had 86, and the rest of the 11-team field.
 
The Mavericks, who came into the third and final day in third place with 36 points, got off to a strong Sunday start in the hurdles as Molder finished fourth in 9.09 seconds while Kiana Jackson was right behind in fifth with 9.11.
 
Arceneaux then blazed in the 60 meters as her time moved her into tie for third in program history.  Shaya Chenoweth also finished fifth in 7.93 seconds as the Mavs moved into second place for good in the team standings.
 
Molder then claimed the 400-meter win in a personal-best 57.20 seconds while Payne took third in 58.62. 
 
Arceneaux then kept the winning ways going with her 200-meter time, which converts to 24.38 seconds with the track-size and altitude adjustments, allowing her to stand seventh on the national performance list.  Her flat time puts her second in program history.  Haley Golden also had a solid run, finishing seventh in 25.93 seconds to move into sixth in CMU history.
 
The strong efforts continued in the 3,000 meters as freshman Kira MacGill moved into No. 2 in program history as she took fifth in 10:14.11.
 
Meanwhile, in the field events, the Mavericks claimed a bronze medal and fifth place finish in the triple jump and an eighth place finish in the pole vault. 
 
In the triple jump, Chian DeLoach took third with an NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 11.80 meters (38 feet, 8 ¾ inches) while Jackson finished fifth at 11.62 meters (38-1.5).  Lydia Dawson cleared 3.11 meters (10-2.5) in the pole vault.

Throughout the 3-day meet, the Mavericks won five events and claimed nine total medals.  The Mavericks had never won more than two events in a single conference championship, previously.
 
CMU's men also won three events and finished fifth as a team with 67 points.