BIRMINGHAM, Ala.— Tony Torres broke the school-record in the mile while Justin Thompson placed sixth in the high jump to lead the Colorado Mesa University indoor track and field team to a strong day on Friday at the NCAA Division II Championships, which continue through Saturday here at the Birmingham Crossplex.

Torres and women's 200-meter specialist Sierra Arceneaux safely got through their preliminary heats to advance to Friday's mile while Thompson and freshman Josie Coffey, who finished ninth, competed in the men's and women's high jumps throughout the day.

All four were making their NCAA Championship debuts.

Torres posted a time of four minutes, 7.52 seconds to take fourth in his preliminary heat but was the second fastest of three time qualifier from the two heats, that sent three finishers automatically into the finals.  His clocking went under the former Maverick standard of 4:09.33, set at the 2016 NCAA Division II National Championships by John Cusick.

He will contest the 9-man final at 1 p.m. (Mountain Time) on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Arceneaux took second in her heat and qualified sixth overall for Saturday's 200-meter final at 5:50 p.m. with a time of 24.72 seconds.  She will then run on the Mavs' 4x400-meter relay team just 30 minutes later to close out the meet.

In the high jump, Thompson cleared 2.06 meters (6 feet, 9 inches) on his first attempt but went out at 2.09 meters (6-10 ¼).  He had also cleared the opening height of 2.01 meters (6-7) on his opening attempt.

Meanwhile Coffey cleared 1.71 meters (5-7 ¼), just a centimeter off her school-record and national qualifying best of 1.72 meters, on her second attempt but just missed out a team scoring place because she had missed twice at the preceding height of 1.68 meters (5-6), which dropped her out of a 3-way tie for sixth.