GUNNISON, Colo.— Elijah Williams and
Hayden Riley broke the Colorado Mesa University record in the 60-meter dash and shot put, respectively, twice while
Tony Torres set a NCAA Division II Championship provisional qualifying time in the mile as one of seven Maverick event winners in a 67 ½-59 ½ season-opening dual win over the host Western Colorado University Mountaineers in Friday's Western Slope Challenge contested here in the Mountaineer Fieldhouse.
Jerod Kuhn also set a NCAA provisional qualifying time in the mile.
The Mavericks claimed victory in four of the six field events and won the 400-meter dash and 4x400-meter relay as well.
The CMU women also posted a 70-62 win over the Mountaineers behind six event wins, including a NCAA qualifying and RMAC-leading high jump effort from freshman Josie Coffey and two other jumping wins by Chian DeLoach.
Williams, who broke the 60-meter record twice throughout the day posted a time of 6.88 seconds in the preliminary round, breaking the former Maverick standard of 6.92, which had been co-held by Jordan Riggins and Tyreek Carter since the 2014 and 2015 RMAC Championships, respectively. He then went even quicker in the finals, posting a time of 6.85 seconds to finish second. Even with the altitude-adjustment penalty, Williams now ranks fourth on the RMAC performance list this far at 6.89.
Riley won the shot put with a throw of 15.68 meters (51 feet, 5 1/2 inches), edging out the former 4-year school record of 15.65 meters (51-4.25), which had been held by Trevor Jensen.
Meanwhile, Torres dominated the field in the mile, winning in 4:20.67, more than five seconds ahead of Kuhn, who moved up a spot to fourth in program history with a time of 4:25.79. With the altitude adjustments, Torres (4:06.12) and Kuhn (4:10.95) both went under the NCAA provisional standard of 4:10.99. Torres now ranks third in the RMAC and seventh nationally so far this season.
Other Maverick winners included
Kelsey Montague (400),
Brock Murphy (weight throw),
Justin Thompson (high jump),
Spencer Purnell (long jump) and the 4x400-meter relay team.
The Mavericks also combined to set nine new marks on the program's all-time top-10 performer charts, including many from freshman.
Here are some of the other highlights throughout the day:
- Ty Grant finished third in the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.94 seconds, moving up into a tie for fifth in program-history. He was tied for tenth coming into the day.
- Freshman Kelsey Montague won the 400 meters in 50.73 seconds, debuting in the No. 5 spot in program history and sliding into third on the RMAC performance list.
- Freshman Triston Charles posted a time of 4:40.57 in the mile to move into the No. 10 spot
- Williams scored five team points as the top team-scoring finisher (second overall) in the 200 meters with a time of 22.21 seconds, third fastest in the RMAC this season.
- Freshman Zayden Davis took second in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.44 seconds, that ranks him eighth in program history and fourth in the RMAC with his altitude-adjusted time of 8.48. Nate Hanson was right behind in third place at 8.46 seconds.
- Austin Reese, Ty Grant, Davis and Jaquaireus Grant dominated the 4x400-meter relay, posting a time of 3:28.05 to win by nearly ten seconds.
- Sophomore Brock Murphy won the weight throw with a mark of 16.22 meters (53-2.75).
- Riley also finished third the weight throw with a mark of 14.81 meters (48-7.25), to move into a tie for tenth on the Mavs' all-time performers' list in that discipline.
- Junior Spencer Purnell tallied a winning and career-best long jump of 6.85 meters on his first attempt to move up three spots to seventh on the CMU all-time performer list.
- Justin Thompson won the high jump with a clearance of 1.99 meters (6-6.25). Freshman Zace Buchold was third with a clearance of 1.84 meters (6-0.5).
- Thompson (14.30m/46-11) and Purnell (14.19m/46-6.75) finishes second and third, respectively in the triple jump.
Up Next
The Mavericks will head south to Alamosa to compete in Saturday's Adams State Grizzly Open.
