VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.— Justin Thompson placed sixth in the long jump to earn his fifth overall career all-America honor while three other Colorado Mesa University Maverick track and field athletes earned second team all-America honors with top-12 finishes on the first day of the NCAA Division II Indoor Championships which got underway here at the Virginia Beach Sports Center.
Thompson, now a 2-time first team all-American, turned in a jump of 7.31 meters (23 feet, 11 ¾ inches) on his second round attempt and entered the finals in sixth place but was unable to improve on his final four attempts. The sixth place finish is the best of three NCAA championship long jump finishes over the 364 days and matches his 2021 indoor high jump finish.
With his fifth total all-America honor, Thompson matched pole vaulter Nolan Ellis for the most honors in Maverick track & field history.
Meanwhile,
Kira MacGill placed tenth in the 5,000 meters while
Jordan Burnett took 11
th in the 400 for the Maverick women.
Elijah Williams also finished 11th in the men's 200 meters.
Dawson Heide was also in action for the Mavericks on Friday, racking up 2,928 points in the first four of seven disciplines in the heptathlon. He is in ninth place.
Burnett, named as the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference's Freshman of the Year on Wednesday, broke her own school-record with a time of 55.45 seconds and finished second in her heat and 11
th overall, garnering second team All-America honors from the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, which recognizes the ninth through 12
th place finishers in individual events with those honors.
The top eight finishers receive first team plaudits.
Friday's run was Burnett's NCAA Championship debut. She is scheduled to lead the Mavs' 4x400-meter relay team on Saturday in the final women's event of the 2-day meet.
MacGill, the Mavs' school-record and RMAC Champion, finished the 5,000 in 16:33.36, falling short of RMAC rivals Emily Schoellkopf (Adams State) and Molly Maksin (Colorado School of Mines) in a 3-way sprint for the last available team point. The eighth through tenth place finishers were separated by just 0.11 seconds.
However, MacGill did pick up her second career overall all-America certificate after receiving her first during the cross country season in the fall.
Williams also picked up a second team honor with his season-best time of 21.50 seconds. He was a 2-event all-American during the 2022 indoor season and has three total all-America certificates.
Meanwhile, Heide got the Mavs' day rolling early with a second place finish in the 60-meter dash of the heptathlon with a time of 7.02 seconds. He then jumped 6.59 meters (21-7.5) in the long jump before turning in a mark of 12.68 meters (41-7.25) in the shot put, just off his personal-best of 12.70 meters (41-8). He was fifth in that discipline and then capped his respectable day with a 1.87 meter (6-1.5) high jump clearance.
Heide scored 3,003 points on Day 1 of last year's NCAA Championship heptathlon and went on to finish fifth.
He will resume the competition on Saturday morning at 10:45 a.m. Eastern (8:45 a.m. Mountain), 15 minutes after
Mica Jenrette will start the women's pentathlon.
Kiana Jackson and
Spencer Purnell will also be involved in triple jump competition on Saturday before the women's 4x400-meter relay team will close out CMU's representation.
The Maverick men are currently in 20
th place in the team standings through four scored events with three points. The CMU women will look to score in their three events on Saturday.
Missouri Southern holds the men's team lead with 16 points while Adams State leads the women's team chase through six scored events with 20 points, largely from second place finishes in both the 5,000 meters and distance medley relay, an event in which RMAC teams took four of the top five places behind Division II record-setting Grand Valley State.
