PUEBLO, Colo.— Brock Murphy won his second Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference title of the year as he set a personal-best and NCAA Division II Championship provisional qualifying throw of 56.10 meters (184 feet, 1 inch) to win the hammer throw while Justin Thompson set a school-record and NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 7.44 meters (24-5) to highlight the day for the Colorado Mesa University men's track and field team on Friday, here at the Neta and Eddie DeRose ThunderBowl.
 
Thanks to those two marks, the Mavericks scored 14 team points through three scored events of the 2021 RMAC Outdoor Championships, which run through Sunday.
 
The Mavericks also qualified a combined five runners for the finals in the four events, which had preliminary heats contested throughout the afternoon.
 
Murphy, who hails from Lamar, Colorado, had won the weight throw at the RMAC Indoor Championships in February, was ranked fifth amongst RMAC hammer throwers coming into the day but uncorked his winning throw in the sixth and final round to claim the title and ten team points.  He also improved his No. 2 positioning in Maverick history.
 
Teammate Hayden Riley also made the final but fouled on all three his attempts in the final while finishing ninth at 47.78 meters (156-9). His mark was also a PR and moved him up two spots to seventh in CMU lore. 
 
Meanwhile, Thompson turned in his mark as part of an incredible long jump competition which saw 13 different men jump further than 23 feet, including two who went more than 25 feet.  Thompson's mark took down Vernon Jackson's 4-year old school record of 7.36 meters (24-1.75) and was good for four more team points.
 
Chadron State's Naishaun Jernigan won the event with a wind-aided leap of 7.80 meters (25-7.25), the best in NCAA Division II this year.  UCCS senior William Ross also set an NCAA Division II Championship automatic qualifying leap of 7.70 meters (25-3.25).
 
CMU's Spencer Purnell finished 14^th at 7.00 meters (22-11.75).
 
Meanwhile on the track, the Mavericks had some impressive efforts.
 
Elijah Williams ran the fastest all-conditions time in CMU history with a time of 10.62 seconds in the preliminaries 100-meter dash, turned in with a tail-wind of 2.1 meters per second, just over the record-setting legal limit.  Jeremiah Wilson also reached the final with a time of 10.75 seconds in the same heat, the fastest all-conditions mark of his career.
 
In the 400 meters, Jaquaireus Grant turned in personal-best time of 49.26 seconds to qualify for the final.  That mark makes him the third fastest 1-lapper in CMU history.  Kelsey Montague also turned in a PR of 49.71 seconds to finish tenth and just one spot out of Sunday's final.
 
In the 400-meter hurdles, Casey McDaniel placed sixth in the preliminaries with a PR of 55.21 seconds.  Carl Heide also set a PR time of 56.63 seconds and finished 11^th.
 
In the 1,500 meters, top-seeded Tony Torres cruised into the finals with a time of 3:51.63 as five different runners went under the former RMAC meet record of 3:49.22 in what were two quick preliminary heats.
 
The 10,000-meter final was also contested in the morning.  Jerod Kuhn led CMU with a 12^th place finish in 32:32.39.  Nathan Sanches was 19^th in 33:26.59.