GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University track and field teams battled some significant on-and-off winds to record five event wins and three other runner-up finishes during Friday afternoon events at the Maverick Invite #2 held at the Mavericks' on-campus facility.
The Mavericks swept the 400-meter hurdle wins by a combined tenth of a second and also picked up wins in the women's 400 meters, the men's 10,000 meters and the men's javelin.
Redshirt freshman
Dallas Davis III was the first Maverick winner as he threw the javelin 53.15 meters (174 feet, 4 inches) on his opening attempt while holding to claim his first career win in three meets.
Freshman
Jordan Burnett then claimed CMU's first win on the track, taking the 400 in 1:00.56. The victory was the first individual event win of the Fairplay, Colorado native's young 3-meet collegiate career.
McKenna Molder then claimed the women's 400-meter hurdles in 1:02.00, defeating Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference performance leader Katie Brotherson of Westminster by four one-hundredths of a second.
Minutes later,
Casey McDaniel took the men's race in a personal-best 54.39 seconds, raising his No. 2 position on the Mavericks' all-time performers list. He won by six one-hundredths over Western Colorado's Christian Byrtus (54.45). The Colorado School of Mines' Joe Whitney was just 0.02 seconds further back in 54.47.
Mark Testa then dominated the small men's 10K field of three, running 25 laps in 32:51.19 to take the No. 12 spot on the Mavs' all-time performance list. He won by 1:47.08 as he lapped the only other finisher.
Elsewhere,
Kelsey Montague took second in the 400 meters with a PR time of 49.08 seconds. The sophomore, who holds the Mavs' indoor record of 49.89, still ranks third in CMU outdoor history.
AJ Smallwood also won his heat in 49.79 seconds to take the No. 7 spot in CMU outdoor history for the single-lap event. He finished fourth overall.
In the 800,
Jake Valdez took second in 1:58.07.
CMU's
Tony Torres, competing unattached, was second in the 1,500 meters in 4:00.80.
The Mavericks also had the second and third place finishers in the high jump as
Zace Buckhold and
Eddie Kurjak both cleared season-best marks of 2.02 meters (6-7.5). They are now tied for fourth in program history and for fourth on the RMAC's season-long performance list.
In other throwing action, sophomore
Meleeah Holmes-McKown took third in the women's hammer throw at 44.15 meters (144-10) while
Jameson Moore finished fifth in the men's event at 48.93 meters (160-6).
Saturday's portion of the meet will begin at 10 a.m.
