EMPORIA, Kan.— Clutch final attempt jumps from Zace Buckhold, Miller Jones and Josie Coffey allowed all three to earn first team all-America honors and move up in the final standings of their events on a strong day of jumping for the Colorado Mesa University trio at Saturday's NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
 
Jones, a freshman from Grand Junction, Colorado, earned his second all-America certificate of his initial collegiate year with a fourth place finish in the men's triple jump while Buckhold, a senior out of Broomfield, Colorado, claimed his first with a seventh place finish in the event.  Coffey, a senior from Lakewood, Colorado, won her fifth career honor thanks to a fifth place finish in the women's high jump, equaling her 2002 outdoor finish, the highest national finish of her illustrious career.
 
Two of her five career plaudits were first team honors from the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, which recognizes the top eight finishers
 
Buckhold, competing in his first national championship, started the last attempt heroics in the first flight, recording what was a career-best mark of 15.23 meters (49 feet, 11 ¾ inches) in the third round to win the flight and eventually get out of the preliminary rounds in eighth place and into the 9-man final, which allowed him three more attempts.
 
Jones then opened up the second flight, which had the higher seeded jumpers, with a mark of 15.52 meters (50-11) and was in sixth place heading into the final.
 
Buckhold then fell to ninth place  after the opening jump of the finals from Wingate's Darius Weathers but responded moments later with another career best and his first 50-foot jump of 15.30 meters (50-2.5) in the fourth round before popping an even better wind-aided mark of 15.45 meters (50-8.25) in his final attempt to move into seventh place and on to the podium.
 
Meanwhile, Jones had dropped to sixth place before turning an effort of 15.81 meters (51-10.5) on his final attempt to move up temporarily to third place before slipping back to his final fourth place position when Pittsburg State's Treyvon Ferguson posted a final round attempt of 15.84 meters (51-11.75) to take third.
 
Ferguson's teammate Tre Betts took the lead on the second attempt and held on to the win with a mark of 15.99 meters (52-5.5) as four of the top eight finishers, including Buckhold, all set personal bests in the exciting competition.
 
Jones had finished tenth in the triple jump at the NCAA Indoor Championships to earn his initial all-America honor but is now a first team honoree.  His Saturday effort was just off his own school-record and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference title-winning jump of 15.84 meters (51-11.75).
 
While the triple jump was going on, Coffey also delivered some heroics in the  nearby high jump pit on her award-winning day, which also included being named as the NCAA Elite 90 Winner following the competition.
 
She passed at the opening height of 1.61 meters (5-3.25) and then cleared 1.66 meters (5-5.25) on her second attempt to remain alive.
 
She then missed on her first two attempts at 1.71 meters (5-7.25) and was in danger of missing out on an all-America honor of any kind.  However, she was able to clear that bard on her third and final attempt to move up into ninth place and guarantee at least second team honors, which go to the ninth through 12^th place finishers.
 
She then faced a comparable situation at 1.74 meters (5-8.5) after missing on her first two attempts but was again able to get over the bar while  moving up into fifth place with what would be her final successful mark of the day as she secured a first team all-America honor and the first team points of the meet for the CMU women.
 
Trailing the other remaining jumpers on misses, Coffey then strategically passed at 1.77 meters (5-9.75) before coming back into the competition at 1.80 meters (5-10.75), which was her earlier season-best clearance.  Coffey was unable to get over that height but still managed to take fifth as only one jumper was able to clear 1.77 and 1.80 meters after four jumpers went out at 1.74 while three went out at 1.77.
 
Concordia St.-Paul's Arika Harbo won the national title with her first attempt clearance of 1.80 meters (5-10.75).

The Maverick men scored seven points from Jones and Buckhold in the triple jump and finished the meet with ten after Dawson Heide took sixth in the decathlon, which finished on Friday.  Justin Thompson also earned a Second Team USTFCCCA All-America honor in the long jump on Thursday as the Mavs finished the meet with 10 points, equaling their program record from 2019 with Ethan Harris won the program's lone outdoor national title in the high jump.
 
Those ten points allowed the Mavs to finish in a 25^th place tie in the final team standings, a new program record after tying for 28^th place in both 2018 and 2019. The also matched their outdoor program record with four total All-America honors.
 
Meanwhile, Coffey scored four points for the Maverick women wo have now scored 13 of their 17 all-time NCAA outdoor championship points in the last three years.  They finished in a 45^th place tie in this year's standings after tying for 36^th with five team points at last year's national meet.