COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.— For the seventh time in his illustrious career, Colorado Mesa University standout Justin Thompson was named as the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference's Field Athlete of the Week, which was announced Wednesday afternoon by conference officials.
 
The latest award comes after Thompson's long jump performance of 7.56 meters (24 feet, 9 ¾ inches), which he used to win that event at last weekend's Mines Alumni Classic in Golden, Colorado.
 
Thompson, a 5-time all-American, ranks second on the early-season NCAA Division II performance list and has him in strong position to qualify for a sixth career NCAA Division II Championship meet.  His effort was just off his own school-record mark of 7.59 meters (24-11), set at Mines in February and would currently rank him fourth on the NCAA Division I performance list and is one of the best five in all of collegiate track and field from the opening week of the season.

He also set a personal-record time of 7.07 seconds in the 60 meters on Saturday after his Friday long jumping win.
 
Thompson, who finished sixth at last year's NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships in the long jump, was one of four NCAA provisional qualifiers from the men's jumping events at last week's meet, which was the season-opener for nine Maverick athletes.
 
Much larger CMU contingents are slated to compete in meets at UCCS and Western Colorado this weekend.