INDIANAPOLIS— The Colorado Mesa University track and field teams had eight individuals plus a relay team selected for the 2023 NCAA Division II Indoor Championships, it was announced by the NCAA Division II Track & Field Committee on Tuesday afternoon.
 
The Maverick women had four individual selections in Jordan Burnett (400 meters), Kiana Jackson (triple jump), Mica Jenrette (pentathlon) and Kira MacGill (5,000m).  The women's 4x400-meter relay team of McKenna Molder, Sophie Lindauer, Jenrette and Burnett was also selected.  Meanwhile, the Maverick men will be represented by Dawson Heide (heptathlon) Spencer Purnell (triple jump), Justin Thompson (long jump) and Elijah Williams (200).
 
The Mavericks also had two other individuals who would have qualified in men's triple jumper Gunner Rigsby and Molder (400m), both of whom were not declared due to season-ending injuries that will not permit them to compete.  Veteran Sierra Arceneaux will replace Molder on the 4x400-meter relay team and MacGill will serve as an alternate.
 
In total, the Mavericks will be represented in nine different events, the most comprehensive coverage in program history, by ten different athletes.

A total of 540 participants, 270 men and 270 women, will compete in the Mar. 10-11 championships, which will be held inside the Virginia Beach Sports Center in Virginia Beach, Virginia for the first time.  Student-athletes qualified for the championships by reaching a provisional standard established for each event and by being amongst the top athletes on the national performance lists in their respective events.

The complete list of qualifiers is available here, which will also house live results for next week's championships.
 
The meet will be live streamed on www.ncaa.com and tickets and other meet information are available through the championship webpage.  
 
Capsules on each of the Maverick's qualifiers can be found below.
 
Men
 
Dawson Heide, (R-Sr., Bayfield, Colo./Bayfield HS) – Heide will enter the national meet as the highest seeded Maverick at No. 3 in the heptathlon with a season-best converted score of 5,479 points.  He will be making his second consecutive national indoor championship appearance in the event after placing fifth at last year's national championships with a then career-best score of 5,408, since bettered with his Mountaineer Open & Multi winning and national meet qualifying score of 5,456 points, a mark that ranks him second in CMU history behind only 2018 National Champion Spencer Jahr.  Heide did not contest the heptathlon at last week's RMAC Championships.

Spencer Purnell (R-Sr., Fort Collins, Colo./Fort Collins HS) – Purnell will be making his third national championship appearance and his first indoor meet and will come into the meet ranked 14^th in the triple jump after turning in an indoor PR mark of 15.09 meters (49 feet, 6 ¼ inches) at the Mountaineer Open & Multi in December.  He ranks second in CMU history behind Rigsby in that event and earned second team all-America honors with a ninth place finish at the 2021 NCAA Outdoor Championships before finishing 16^th at the 2022 outdoor championships.  He is a 5-time All-RMAC performer in the triple jump.

Justin Thompson (R-Jr., Carbondale, Colo./MSU Denver/Roaring Fork HS) – Thompson will be the No. 6 seed in the long jump after breaking his own school-record with mark of 7.59 meters (24-11) at the Mines Winter Classic & Multi.  He is a 4-time all-American, earning two of those honors in the long jump and will be making his fifth consecutive national championship appearance since the 2021 indoor season.  Thompson took ninth at the 2022 NCAA Outdoor championships and was 11^th in that year's indoor championships.  He earned a pair of silver medals at this year's RMAC Championships, finishing second in the long jump and tied for second in the high jump, earning his seventh and eighth overall All-RMAC certificates.

Elijah Williams (R-Jr., Aurora, Colo./Gateway HS) –  Williams will be the No. 15 seed in the 200 meters with a season-best, altitude and track-size adjusted time of 21.30 seconds, set in the preliminary heats of the RMAC Championships.  He also broke his own school-record with a time of 6.72 in the prelims of the 60 meters but did not run in either final due to injury precautions.  He will be making his third consecutive national championship appearance after earning a pair of All-America honors in 2022 finishing third in the 200 and 11^th in the 60 in at the 2022 NCAA Indoor Championships.  He also took 13^th in the 200 at the 2002 outdoor championships and is a 7-time All-RMAC sprinter, who holds the school-record in five different events, including the indoor 200 at 21.33, the mark he turned in to claim his high national finish a year ago.
 
Jordan Burnett (R-Fr., Fairplay, Colo./South Park HS)- Burnett has taken the RMAC by storm during her redshirt freshman indoor season, winning both the 200 and 400-meter conference titles.  She broke her own 400-meter school-record at the RMAC Championships with a time of 55.51 seconds and is seeded tenth nationally with her converted time of 55.00.  She redshirted during last year's indoor season and will be making her first NCAA Championship appearance.
 
Kiana Jackson (R-Sr., Fountain, Colo./Fountain-Fort Carson HS) – Jackson is the No. 14 seed in the triple jump after turning in a season-best mark of 12.15 meters (39-10.5) at the Minnesota State Massive Meet #2.  This is her third national championship selection after qualifying during the 2020 indoor and the 2022 outdoor seasons.  She was named as an all-American for the 2020 indoor season although that year's NCAA Championships was ultimately canceled at the start of the COVID pandemic.  She finished 21^st at last year's outdoor championships.  Jackson is a 10-time All-RMAC selection and earned her third first team plaudit with a silver medal winning performance at last weekend's RMAC Championships.
 
Mica Jenrette (R-Jr., Los Lunas, N.M./Los Lunas HS) – Jenrette will be making her third consecutive national indoor meet appearance in the pentathlon after winning her third straight RMAC title in the event last weekend.  She tallied a season-best 3,712 points to do so and comes into the national meet seeded 12^th with a converted score of 3,733.  She is now the most decorated Maverick in program history with six RMAC titles.  Jenrette is also a 4-time all-American who finished sixth in the pentathlon at both the 2021 and 2002 NCAA Indoor Championships.  She also helped the Mavericks win the national 4x400-meter relay title in 2021 and earned another all-America honor in the heptathlon at the 2022 NCAA Championships.  She set the CMU pentathlon record of 3,781 points at the 2021 NCAA Championships and also holds the school-record in the indoor 800 (2:16.59) while ranking among the program's top 10 in six different indoor disciplines.

Kira MacGill (R-So., Littleton, Colo./Arapahoe HS - MacGill is seeded fifth in the 5,000 meters after obliterating the school-record with a 16:23.31 at the Husky Classic.  That time was more than 78 seconds faster than the former record of 17:41.80.  MacGill then went on to win the RMAC title in 17:41.90 at more than 7,500 feet at last weekend's RMAC Championships, becoming the first Maverick to win the event since former record holder Lauren Lipski in 2016.  MacGill will be making her national track & field championship debut but did earn all-America honors in cross country this past fall.
 
4x400-Meter Relay Team- The Mavericks will be the No. 8 seed after Molder, Lindauer, Jenrette and Burnett posted a time of 3:47.84 (3:44.86-converted) at the Minnesota State Massive Meet #2, the second fastest in program-history and only shy of the 2021 National title winning effort of 3:47.09 on a banked track in Birmingham, Alabama.  

Sophie Lindauer (R-So., Longmont, Colo./Skyline HS)- Lindauer will be making her initial NCAA Championship appearance.  She is a 3-time overall All-RMAC performer in multi-events and on relays and took seventh in the pentathlon at the RMAC Championships.  She posted a time of 58.94 seconds in her lone individual 400-meter effort of the season at the Minnesota State Massive Meet #1 and ranks seventh in program history with her indoor PR of 58.83, set at last year's RMAC Championships.

Sierra Arceneaux (R-Sr., Aurora, Colo./Hinkley HS)- Arceneaux is the Mavs' school-record holder in five events, including the 4x400-meter relay, and has won three previous all-America honors, including the 2021 national title-winning accolade.  She now has 14 All-RMAC honors to her credit after taking second in the 200 behind Burnett and fourth in the 60 meters at the RMAC Championships.  She has not run the 400 meters this season and has a PR time of 59.17, just outside of the Mavs' all-time top 10.  This will be her fifth overall national championship appearance.  Arceneaux is a 5-time RMAC Champion.