GUNNISON, Colo.— Hayden Riley smashed his own school record in the shot put and won both throwing events as he,
Dawson Heide and
Tony Torres all set NCAA Division to lead the nation's 22
nd ranked Colorado Mesa University men's indoor track & field team to ten event wins on an impressive day of action at the Mountaineer Open & Multi in Western Colorado University's Mountaineer Field House.
The Mavericks also had a pair of 1-2-3 sweeps.
In the shot put, Riley recorded an improved NCAA qualifying mark 16.68 meters (54 feet, 8 ¾ inches) to best his own school-record of 16.46 meters (54-0), set earlier in the season. He will move up to as high as 22nd on the national list. He also won the weight throw with a heave of 16.24 meters (53-3.5).
Meanwhile, Heide finished with 5,135 points in the heptathlon to move into the No. 3 spot in school history.
Leading by 29 points coming into the day, Heide posted a time of 8.29 seconds to win the 60-meter hurdles before clearing 4.15 meters (13-7.25) in the pole vault. He then took second in the 1,000-meter run with a time of 3:02.37.
His hurdling time moved him into a tie for fifth in program-history while his overall score, which converted to 5,159 points for altitude and track-size, will rank him as eight as eighth nationally.
In the mile, Torres blazed to a time of 4:18.20, which converts to 4:03.79. The 2021 national runner-up and RMAC Champion now leads the RMAC and ranks third nationally.
The Mavericks' two 1-2-3 sweeps came in the triple jump and 5,000 meters.
Gunner Rigsby won the triple jump with a mark of 14.82 meters (48-7.5) ahead of
Spencer Purnell (14.26m/46-9.5) and
Zace Buckhold, who moved up four spots to fifth in program-history with a third place jump of 13.94 meters (45-9).
In the 5K,
Ethan Abbs won the race in 15:32.80 to move up a spot to third in program history.
Triston Charles, who ranks second in Maverick lore, took second in 15:42.99 while
Mark Testa finished third in 15:46.13 to take over the No. 7 spot in program history.
Elsewhere,
Justin Thompson won the long jump with a mark of 7.34 meters (24-1) while
Zayden Davis (8.36) and
Nate Hanson (8.38) went 1-2 in the 60-meter hurdles.
Dayne Ortega was also a winner on the track as he took the 400 meters in 51.04 seconds to move up one spot to ninth in program history.
The Mavs also had seven of the top eight finishers in both the 60 and 200 meters. In the 60,
Sterling Brassfield led the Mavericks with a second place time of 6.95 seconds.
Kade Christensen was right behind in 6.96 after running a preliminary round time of 6.93 seconds to rank sixth in CMU history.
Jeremiah Wilson also broke seven seconds, finishing fourth in 6.99.
Jeremiah Reed took second in the 200 with a time of 22.76 seconds while
Beau Thornton was third in 22.95.
The Mavericks also had the only two distance medley relay teams as the "B" squad of Testa,
Jake Valdez,
Jackson Ware and Abbs upset the "A" team, running to a time of 11:14.96.
The CMU women's team also had seven event winners on the day.
Both Maverick squads will continue the season next week sending athletes to both the New Mexico Classic in Albuquerque, New Mexico and the Mines Winter Classic in Golden, Colorado next Friday and Saturday.
