ALAMOSA, Colo.— Mica Jenrette came from behind to win her third consecutive pentathlon title and program-record setting sixth overall conference crown of her illustrious career before Kira MacGill out-sprinted the field in the closing stages of the 5,000 meters to lead the Colorado Mesa University Maverick women's indoor track and field team to a successful Friday, here at the 2023 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championships.
 
Elsewhere, redshirt freshman Jordan Burnett was also the top qualifier in both the 200 and 400-meter preliminaries, breaking her own school-record in the 400.
 
Jenrette trailed by 42 points heading into the final discipline of the pentathlon but dominated the 800 meters to win that race in a time of two minutes, 24.72 seconds and the overall competition with a season-best and improved NCAA Division II Championship provisional qualifying score of 3,712 points, just off her school-record mark of 3,781.
 
UCCS' Faith Noves, who had hard fared best in the 18-woman field in three of the first four events, could not keep pace and finished the race in 2:36.82 and the overall event with 3,603 points.
 
Meanwhile, CMU's Jordan Brockman claimed the bronze medal and a first team all-conference honor with a score of 3,444 points, way above her former PR of 3,082.  In the process, Brockman surged four spots to third on the Mavs' all-time performers chart.  She had edged Novess for second in the 800 with a time of 2:36.79 and had some strong efforts in a busy overall day.
 
The Mavs also had the sixth, seventh and eighth place finishers in the overall event as they racked up 22 of their 38 first day team points in the pentathlon alone. 
 
CMU sits third in the team standings through six events with that score behind the Colorado School of Mines (75) and 3-time defending champion UCCS (38).
 
Freshman Katie Thomson took sixth in the pentathlon with 3,164 points, a 20-point improvement over her former season-best while Sophie Lindauer took seventh with a PR-smashing 3,130 points to move into the No. 8 spot in program history.  Hope Matteson took eighth with 3,116 points.
 
Freshman Natalie Smythe finished 17^th with 2,360 points despite fouling all three of her long jump attempts.

Jenrette had two new career-bests during the day.  She clocked a time of 9.00 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles while Brockman was clocked in 8.95 to surge all the way to fourth in CMU history for that individual discipline.  Jenrette is now tied for sixth in the Mavs' hurdling history.
 
Later, Jenrette turned in a career-best of 12.21 meters (40-0.75) to dominate the shot put.  She now stands fourth in CMU history for that event.  That effort allowed her to make up 131 of what was a 158-point deficit to Novess through two events.  Jenrette then had a season-best long jump mark of 5.38 meters (17-7.75) but slid 15 points further behind Novess before dominating the 800 by more than 12 seconds.
 
Less than an hour later, MacGill turned in a 31.149-second last lap to claim the 5,000 in 17:41.90 as she out-kicked Zoe Baker of the Colorado School of Mines.  MacGill's 5K win was the Mavs' first in that event since Lauren Lipski won the 2016 conference title in a then school-record time of 17:41.80.
 
MacGill had obliterated that record just 14 days ago at sea-level with a mark of 16:23.31 at the Husky Classic in Seattle.
 
The Mavs' other Day 1 team points came in the long jump as Taeryn Trumper took fifth to garner Second Team All-RMAC honors with a leap of 5.44 meters (17-10.25) on her only legal jump.  Meanwhile, Brockman finished seventh a PR of 5.37 meters (17-7.5) after leaping 5.33 meters (17-6) in the pentathlon.
 
Kiana Jackson finished 11^th with a leap of 5.09 meters (16-8.5) before passing on her other two attempts.
 
Brockman also reached the finals in the 60-meer hurdles as she qualified fourth for Saturday's final with a time of 8.92 seconds.  Averie Griffith also qualified in 9.14 seconds while Jenrette clocked a time of 9.18 to finish ninth and just outside of the necessary top-8.
 
Meanwhile, Sierra Arceneaux reached the finals in both of her events, qualifying third in the 60 meters with a season-best and NCAA Division II Championship provisional qualifying time of 7.62 seconds and third in the 200 with a time of 24.98.

Arceneaux has won five career RMAC titles, a mark that was equal to Jenrette for the most in program history entering the day.
 
Jordan Burnett and also qualified for two finals, posting the day's quickest time in both the 200 (24.79) and 400 (55.65).  The latter broke her own 2-week old school-record of 55.74.  She also moved up a spot to third and one spot behind Arceneaux on the CMU all-time performers' charts in the 200.
 
Freshman Avry Kennison also qualified for the 60-meter finals, posting a NCAA provisional qualifying and PR mark of 7.66 seconds to earn the sixth seed for Saturday's final.  Kennison was ninth in the 200-meter qualifying at 25.68, another career-best time that puts her tenth in CMU history.  She ranks seventh in the 60.
 
Gaby Horton also ran in both the 60 and 200, finishing the shorter race in 7.96 seconds to place 16^th.  She was 13^th in the 200 with a time of 26.08 seconds.
 
Emma Dikken took tenth in the 400 with a time of 59.63 while Elaiana Arcand placed 12^th in 1:00.22.
 
Lily Nieslanik finished 14^th in the long jump in her conference championship debut with a mark of 4.81 meters (15-9.5) while Kierra Arceneaux placed 15^th at 4.67 meters (15-4).  Daisy Rinehart and Augustine Hancock were unable to set legal marks in the pole vault and weight throw, respectively.
 
Saturday's portion of the meet begins at 10 a.m., although the first women's events will not get underway until 12:30 p.m.

The Maverick men are in sixth place after one day and five events as Justin Thompson finished second in the long jump while Elijah Williams broke his own 60-meter school-record.