PUEBLO, Colo.— Indoor second team all-American Miller Jones set a NCAA Division II Outdoor Championship provisional qualifying mark while fellow freshman Kaiya Graves broke the oldest Colorado Mesa University track & field record in the javelin throw in her collegiate debut as both won events on the first day of the Mavericks' outdoor season here at the CSU Pueblo Spank Blasing Invitational.
 
Sophomore Augustine Hancock also set women's hammer throw school record for the Mavs, who shined on the opening day of the meet and their season.
 
Jones, who won the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference's indoor title last month before taking tenth at the national championships in the triple jump just 13 days prior, wasted little time in moving on to the national outdoor list, recording a wind-aided mark of 15.32 meters (50 feet, 3 inches) to win Friday's event while fellow freshman teammate Salem Brunk finished fourth with a mark of 13.85 meters (45-5.25).
 
Jones now ranks third on the Mavericks' all-conditions performers list as one of just three men to record a 50-foot plus mark in CMU history while Brunk moved to eighth on the official CMU top 10 performers list with his second best mark of 13.82 meters (45-4), which came on his first attempt.  All six of Jones' marks were wind-aided as was Brunk's second attempt.

Jones will also rank as high as third on the national performance list early in the outdoor season pending other weekend results from around the country.
 
Meanwhile, Graves, a Laurel, Montana native, uncorked a record-setting and winning throw of 40.91 meters (134-2.5) to break the nearly 13-year old CMU record of 39.62 meters (130-0) that Sierra Wiggins had set way back in 2011.
 
The men's and women's triple jump, javelin throw and hammer throw were the only events contested during Friday's portion of the meet.  The remainder, including all of the running events will be held on Saturday, beginning at 10 a.m.
 
Although the event list was sparse on Friday, the Maverick highlights were plentiful, including Hancock's hammer throw effort of 49.01 meters (160-9.5), which was good for eighth place.  Her effort was more than a 21-foot improvement over her 2023 season-best.
 
Teammate Christina Palmer also moved into the No. 5 spot of CMU history in her Maverick debut, recording a mark of 46.31 meters (151-11) to finish 14^th. Freshman Lily Lofland also squeezed into the Mavs' all-time top 10 with a 24^th place throw of 41.87 meters (137-4.25) in the large field of 35 throwers.
 
Freshman Kylee Kielian took third in the women's triple jump with a mark of 11.78 meters (38-7.75) and moved to fourth on the Mavs' all-conditions performance list.  She also had a wind-legal mark of 11.73 meters (38-5.75) and ranks fourth on the CMU list with that as well.
 
Natalie Smythe also competed, taking tenth at 10.73 meters (35-2.25).
 
In the men's javelin throw, freshman Seth Sherwood placed eighth with a heave of 54.05 meters (177-3.75) to take over the No. 6 spot in CMU history.  School record holder and 2023 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference champion Cameron Kalaf won the event while competing unattached with a throw of 57.91 meters (189-11.75).
 
Kalaf also finished fifth in the hammer throw at 52.54 meters (172-4.5) while Nathan Jones was the lone Maverick representative, finishing 12^th in the field of 29 starters with a throw of 47.60 meters (156-2), moving just inside the Mavs' all-time top 10 by a centimeter.