GUNNISON, Colo.— AJ Iarusso took second in the men's 60-meter hurdles while Madison Cook took third in the women's 400 meters to lead a small group of Colorado Mesa University athletes at the Big Red Machine Open indoor track & field meet on Saturday here at Western Colorado University's Mountaineer Fieldhouse, one of three the Mavericks competed in around the state.

At Western, nine total Mavericks competed throughout the day as three of them set new season-best marks.

Iarusso posted a time of 8.82 seconds in the hurdles as he and Jackson Berninger, who finished fifth in the 400 meters and 12^th in the 200, were the only two Maverick men in action.  Berninger was competing for just the second time as a Maverick and set new collegiate-best times of 23.54 and 51.97 seconds in his events.

The Maverick women had seven athletes competing in the meet as Cook ran to a time of 1:02.48, which is her new season and collegiate-best.   She also set a new bests of 28.55 in the 200 meters, placing 12^th as the fourth of four Mavericks in that event.  Kiona Gonzales-Gibbs led the Maverick group with a sixth place time of 26.38 while Sadie Smilanich (26.93) and Olivia Langner (28.47) placed eighth and 12^th, respectively.

Langner also ran in the 60-meter hurdles, placing seventh in a new season and collegiate-best 10.49 seconds while Smilanich and Gonzales-Gibbs raced in the 60 meters as well.  Smilanich took fifth in 8.10 seconds while Gonzales-Gibbs was one spot behind in 8.21 seconds. 

In the field, Lily Lofland turned in a sixth place shot put effort of 8.26 meters (27 feet, 1 inch) after taking eighth in the weight throw with a mark of 9.41 meters (30-10.25).  CMU teammate Jaylynn Morgan was seventh in the weight throw at 10.89 meters (35-8.5) but did not contest the shot put.

In Golden, the Mavericks got a pentathlon win from Katie Thomson in the pentathlon and five second place finishes in as many events at the Mines Winter Classic & Multi.

In Boulder, the Mavericks shined in running events, setting six NCAA Division II Championship provisional qualifying times, including an 800-meter school record from Brooke Miller.