ALAMOSA, Colo.— Justin Thompson claimed the silver medal in the long jump as that effort, a fourth place finish from Becker Ell in the pole vault and some impressive preliminary round sprinting and hurdling efforts, including a school-record time from Elijah Williams, were the highlights of a strong day for the Colorado Mesa University men's track and field team at the 2023 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference indoor championships, which got underway Friday here at the Adams State University High Altitude Training Center.
 
The Mavericks also receive a seventh place finish from their distance medley relay team and an eighth place effort by Zace Buckhold in the long jump as they scored 16 team points while qualifying eighth combined runners for Saturday's finals in the 60, 200 and 400-meter dashes and the 60-meter hurdles.
 
Williams provided the highlight of the sprints, breaking his own 60-meter school record in heat-winning and improved NCAA Division II Championship provisional qualifying time of 6.72 seconds, well under his former mark of 6.76.  Even with the altitude-adjustment penalty, Williams is now on the bubble for national championship selection at 6.76.
 
Those team 16 points have the Mavericks in sixth place with five of the 17 total events in the books.
 
Thompson earned his fifth career first team and seventh total All-RMAC honor as he turned in a strong effort of 7.51 meters (24 feet, 7 ¾ inches) to take second in the long jump, just two centimeters behind Western Colorado's Malcom Wesley, who took the win with a third round leap of 7.53 meters (24-8.5).  Thompson was in third entering the final three rounds but moved passed eventual bronze medalist Peterson Bohannon of UCCS in the fourth round.
 
Buckhold also scored a team point with his first round and personal record effort of 7.09 meters (23-3.25) that held up to reach the finals.  He also moved up a spot to fifth in CMU history.  Thompson broke his own school-record with a national championship qualifying leap of 7.59 meters (24-11) earlier this month.
 
Meanwhile, the Mavs' other two long jumpers in Kash Bradley and Tyrese McClinton-El tied for 16^th with marks of 6.36 meters (20-10.5)
 
Much earlier and in the first completed event of the entire meet, Ell cleared a season-best 4.50 meters (14-9) to place fourth.  He had come into the meet tied for tenth on the RMAC season-long performance list and picked up Second Team All-RMAC honors, which go to the fourth through sixth place finishers in each individual event.
 
The Mavericks' other four team points came from the distance medley relay team of Triston Charles, Kelsey Montague, Casey Amori and Mark Testa, who finished seventh overall and second in their heat with a time of 10:57.06.  Three teams, including the host Grizzlies, who won the Mavs' heat and the overall event, went under the former fieldhouse record of 10:11.42.
 
The Grizzlies won the event in 10:00.93.
 
The other final of the day was in the weight throw, which saw Hayden Riley finish ninth with a personal record mark of 17.23 meters (56-6.5), which moved him up two spots to second on the program's all-time performers chart.
 
Teammate Jameson Moore finished 18^th with an opening round mark of 14.89 meters (48-10.25).  He fouled on his second and third attempts.
 
The rest of the Maverick action came in the preliminary heats of the shortest events and in the first four of seven disciplines in the heptathlon, which continues Saturday.
 
In the heptathlon, freshman Logan Hafey is in eighth place with 2,387 points.  He closed out the day with a season-best high jump effort of 1.65 meters (5-5) after posting marks of 7.22 (60 meters), 6.21 meters (20-4.5) in the long jump) and 9.33 meters (30-7.5) in the shot put.

CMU's Jay Shuman is in 12^th with 2,147 points and set a new career-best of 10.11 meters (33-2) in the shot put.
 
Meanwhile, Zayden Davis qualified second in the 60-meter hurdles, winning his heat in 8.06 seconds.  Dawson Heide (8.50), Nate Hanson (8.66) and AJ Iarusso (9.00) missed out on the finals, placing tenth, 12^th and 15^th, respectively.
 
The Mavs qualified four of the eight men for the 60-meter final as Williams led the way as the defending conference champion.  Sophomore Teo Casados qualified fourth overall in an NCAA provisional qualifying 6.80 seconds to move into third in program history behind Williams and Sterling Brassfield, who snuck into his second straight RMAC 60-meter final as the last qualifier with a time of 6.85 seconds. 
 
Kade Christensen also set a career-best and improved NCAA provisional qualifying time of 6.82 seconds to qualify fifth.
 
Beau Thornton (6.93) and Joey Zook (6.94) were unable to advance, taking 12^th and 13^th overall.
 
Williams also blazed to a fast time of 21.56 seconds to qualify first in the 200 meters. Casados also reached the final, winning his heat in 21.81 while Dayne Ortega got through to the finals as the eighth and final qualifier thanks to his time of 22.06 seconds.
 
Zach Musso (22.67), Justin Blanton (22.71) and Jeremiah Reed (23.03) also competed in the event.
 
Ortega also reached the 400 meter finals, running to a time of 49.47 seconds, just off his school-record of 49.37, and will be the No. 2 seed in Saturday afternoon's final.
 
Montague (50.60) as well as freshman Julio Antondo-Avalos (50.66) and Blanton (51.06) were unable to qualify in the 400.  They finished ninth, tenth and 14^th, respectively.

The Maverick women had two event champions and scored 32 points through six opening-day events to stand in third place in the team standings.
 
Saturday's portion of the meet will begin at 10 a.m.