COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.— Dawson Heide set the nation's leading heptathlon mark while
Eddie Kurjak matched the Colorado Mesa University indoor high jump record, highlighting a phenomenal day of results for a Maverick indoor track and field contingent at the Colorado Running Company Pre-Holiday Invite & Multi on Saturday here at UCCS' Mountain Lion Fieldhouse.
After setting six NCAA Division II Championship provisional qualifying marks on the first day of the meet, the Maverick jumpers and multi-event products combined for nine more as several moved up or onto the Mavericks' all-time top-10 performer lists.
Heide scored a personal-best 5,535 points to finish second in the heptathlon, taking a huge 430-point lead on the NCAA Division II performance list pending other late-reported weekend results with his converted score of 5,559. His actual score was also just 17 points shy of the Maverick school-record of 5,552 set by Spencer Jahr en-route to a 2018 NCAA Division II title.
Heide's mark was largely fueled by a personal-best pole vault clearance of 4.60 meters (15 feet, 1 inch) and a solid 60-meter hurdle time of 8.07 seconds, just off his PR of 8.05 and well under the NCAA Division II Championship provisional qualifying standard of 8.20. He then closed the day out with a solid time of 3:01.07 in the 1,000 meters after setting a NCAA provisional qualifying long jump mark and personal-best shot put mark on Friday.
His pole vault effort on Saturday also moved him up four spots to fourth in CMU history for that discipline.
Freshman teammate
Evan Atkin also finished 11
th in the heptathlon, scoring 4,463 points to move into the No. 8 spot in program history.
Logan Hafey was 15
th with 4,025 points while
Jameson Moore placed 16
th with 3,539 in his multi-event debut.
Meanwhile, Kurjak cleared 2.15 meters (7-0.5) to match the Maverick indoor record of former outdoor national Ethan Harris while joining Harris in the Mavs' elite 7-foot club. Kurjak also jumped 15.14 meters (49-8.25) in the triple jump to move into the No. 2 spot of CMU history. He won both events and ranks third nationally in the triple jump and fourth (tie) in the high jump.
Freshman teammate
Miller Jones was second in the triple jump with a leap of 15.12 meters (49-7.25) to move into third in program history behind
Gunner Rigsby and Kurjak. He now ranks fourth nationally.
Zace Buckhold also set a NCAA provisional qualifying mark and career-best effort of 14.59 meters (47-10.5) to rank sixth in CMU indoor history after entering what ended up being CMU's best ever triple jump day ranked fifth.
Freshman
Salem Brunk also turned in an effort of 13.49 meters (44-3.25) to place eighth, a mark that would have put him on the Mavs' all-time top 10 entering the day.
The Maverick women also shined as
Josie Coffey,
Venesa Handzhiyska and
Kylee Kielian all set NCAA qualifying marks while Kirsten Williams won the 5,000 meters.
Coffey cleared 1.71 meters (5-7.25), just one centimeter off her own school-record to place second in the high jump on tie-breaking procedures. Teammate
Kaelea Gibson placed third with a mark of 1.58 meters (5-2.25.) while
Sophie Lindauer cleared 1.53 meters (5-0.25) to finish seventh.
In the triple jump, Handshiyska turned in a mark of 12.10 meters (39-8.5) in her collegiate debut to take second and move into the No. 3 spot of program history. Kielian finished fifth with a mark of 11.76 meters (38-7) and now ranks fifth in CMU history.
Williams ran the 5,000 meters in 18:19.20 and now ranks third in CMU history.
The Mavericks also had a solid and record-setting day of sprinting, throwing and mid-distance running at the Mountaineer Open, hosted by Western Colorado University in Gunnison.
