PITTSBURG, Kan.— The Colorado Mesa University track and field teams combined for six top five finishes and five marks that surpassed the NCAA Division II Championship provisional qualifying standards on Friday here during day one action of the 9^th Annual Indoor Gorilla Classic at Pittsburg State University's Plaster Center, which will play host to the national meet next month.
 
Kaelea Gibson led the Mavericks with a second place finish in the open section of the women's high jump, followed closely by Jordan Burnett's third place time in the 200 meters.  Meanwhile, Justin Thompson and Miller Jones finished third and fourth in the men's long jump, respectively as Jones posted a new career-best and improved NCAA provisional qualifying mark to move to second in CMU history behind Thompson, the Mavs' record-holder.
 
Elijah Williams and Teo Casados also ran to fourth and fifth place finishes in the men's 200 meters, posting nearly identical NCAA provisional qualifying times of 21.59 seconds while winning separate heats.  They both have faster times this season and are the top two performers in Maverick history.
 
Gaby Horton also had a solid time of 7.75 seconds to place second amongst 69 starters in the women's 60-meter qualifying, advancing her to Saturday's preliminary rounds.  She also came back to finish eighth in the 200 meters with a time of 25.08 seconds.
 
Burnett was clocked in 24.55 to take third, easily under the NCAA qualifying standard of 24.81, but just off her career-best of 24.39 run at altitude during the New Mexico Team Open two weeks ago.
 
Gibson cleared 1.62 meters (5 feet 3 ¾ inches) in the high jump, just a centimeter off of her season and career-best leading four Maverick contestants in the open section of the event.  The invitational section will be contested on Saturday and will include CMU's Josie Coffey and Hope Matteson.
 
Thompson led the Maverick men with his solid long jump of 7.41 meters (24-3.75) to take third in the field of 38 jumpers while Jones, a freshman, was right behind at 7.38 meters (24-2.5), which moved him up a spot on the Mavs' all-time performers chart.  His mark was 10 centimeters over his former best of 7.28 meters (23-10.75), set a fortnight ago and will move him as high as into a tie for 16^th on the season-long national performance list pending other results from the weekend.
 
Thompson sits second on that list with a season-best of 7.56 meters (24-9.75).
 
Elsewhere, freshman Kylee Kielian led five Mavs in the women's long jump with a 12^th-place mark of 5.47 meters (17-11.25) while weight throw school-record holder Augustine Hancock represented the Maverick throwers with a heave of 15.07 meters (49-5) to finish near the middle (21^st) of the 40-woman field.
 
Saturday's portion of the meet will begin at 11 a.m. CST (10 a.m. Mountain).