GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University Mavericks have qualified 50 athletes for this weekend's Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships, which will be contested Friday and Saturday at UCCS' Mountain Lion Fieldhouse.

How to Follow

There are a variety of ways to follow the Mavs at this weekend's championships.

For those wishing to watch in person, tickets are available through the RMAC Ticketing platform - http://www.rmacsports.org/tickets.  A championship pass is $25 with a reduced rate of $17 for military members, seniors (65+) and children (6-17).

Single-day tickets are $15 for general admission and $10 with the aforementioned reduced rate.

Wall-to-Wall coverage of all the championship events can also be found on the RMAC Network throughout the meet, accessible here.  Over the two days, fans will find 12 feeds.  A championship subscription runs $20.

Live results throughout the meet will also be available here.

The RMAC Championship Fan Guide, can also be accessed here.

Recaps from both days of the meet will also be posted on www.cmumavericks.com.

Meet Schedule

The meet will get underway at 8 a.m. on Friday morning with the men's weight throw, one of several field events that will be held throughout the day.

The women's pentathlon will also begin at 10 a.m.

Track events begin at 1 p.m. on Friday with preliminaries in the 60-meter hurdles, and the 60, 200 and 400-meter dashes.  The 5,000-meter and distance medley relay finals will also be held on Friday.

All of Saturday's action is finals with the second day of the men's heptathlon getting things started at 9:45 a.m.

Saturday's field events will begin at 10:30 a.m. while the track events commence at Noon.

Awards will be presented following the meet at 4:45.

A complete meet schedule can be found on the Championship webpage.

Last Time Out

Some of the Mavericks were in action last Friday at the RMAC Last Chance Qualifier, hosted by Western Colorado University Gunnison.

Full Recap: 

Women's sprinters Gaby Horton and Jordan Burnett led the way as each won events with RMAC-leading and NCAA Division II Championship provisional qualifying times.

Horton took the win in the 200 meters, blazing to a time of 24.25 seconds, a new indoor personal-best that elevated her No. 2 ranking on the Maverick all-time list behind only school-record holder Whitney Rowe, who set a school-record mark of 24.14 on a banked track at the 2015 NCAA Division II National Championships in Birmingham, Alabama.

With the track-size and altitude conversions, Horton's time from Friday lowered to 24.02 on the RMAC and national performance lists and will likely get her into the NCAA Division II Championships.  Horton leads the RMAC list by more than a half-second and ranks 13^th nationally.

Burnett won the 400 meters by more than a second in 56.17 and took over the RMAC performance list with the converted time of 55.65 seconds.

Meanwhile, several other Mavericks successfully used the meet in order to secure their qualification for the RMAC Championships.

Rimari Facey and Jessie Schaffer were amongst that group as they turned in career-best times of 9.23 and 9.34 seconds, respectively to get into the RMAC Championship field in the 60-meter hurdles.

Kiona Gonzales-Gibbs also secured qualification in the 200 meters with her season-best time of 26.09 seconds, which converted to 25.83 on the conference performance list.

Madison Cook did the same in the 400 with a career-best time of 1:02.14, which put her 34^th on the RMAC season-long performance list but good enough for her to move up all the way to 18^th on the declared athlete list.

Olivia Langner also cleared a season-best 1.51 meters (4-11.5) to ensure high jump qualification.

Addy Kirkpatrick also worked her way inside the selection bubble in the long jump, posting a season-best of 5.31 meters (17-5.25).

On the men's side, freshman sprinter Roman Sackman booked a conference championship spot in the 60 meters with a season-best time of 6.96 seconds.

Freshman throwers Kaiden Major and Van Chambers also had career days as Major set marks of 15.03 meters (49-3.75) and 14.94 meters (49-0.25) in the shot put and weight throw, respectively, to qualify for the RMAC meet in both events.  Chambers also set a new weight throw best of 17.02 meters (55-10.25) to move up to ninth on the RMAC weight throw list.

Qualification & Broad Coverage.

The 50 Mavericks who are slated to compete this weekend all qualified by being amongst the top 18 declared student-athletes in their respective individual events.  The Mavs were also entitled to one team entry in each relay event.

In total, the Mavs will be represented in 28 of the meet's 34 different events, including all but one of the 17 women's events and have 68 total entries.

The 50 qualified athletes are six more than the Mavs took the 2024 RMAC Championships

Here is a look at the qualified Mavericks by event along with their seed rank and performance coming into the meet.  Those marked with an asterisk are competing in multiple events.

Complete Heat/Flight Sheets can be seen here.

Men's (19 Athletes, 23 entries over 12 events)
60m (4): 5. Marik Cummings (6.88), 10. Amaris Mora* (6.93), 12. Roman Sackman (6.96), 18. Walker Mathews (7.03)
60m Hurdles (3): 6. Trevor Kendall (8.37), 7. Aidan Brownell (8.38), 15. Logan Hafey (8.71)
200m (2): 9. Quentin Hartel (21.96), 14. Mora* (22.04)
400m (1): 9. Kelsey Montague (49.28)
800m (2): 11. Dylan Campbell (1:53.79)*, 17. Kyle Towne* (1:54.43)
Mile: None
3K: None
5K: None
4x400m Relay (1 Team): 9. Team Members TBD (3:22.08)
Distance Medley Relay (1 Team): 6. Chase Brown, Campbell*, Kevin DeGree, Towne (10:11.53)
Weight Throw (2): 9. Van Chambers (17.02m), 16. Kaiden Major (14.94m)
Pole Vault (1): 14. Garrett Searls (4.45m)
Long Jump (3): 3. Antone Higgs* (7.35m), 7. Hayden Moreno (7.01m), 17. Salem Brunk* (6.76m)
High Jump: None
Triple Jump (2): Higgs* (14.82m), 5. Brunk* (14.28m)
Shot Put (1): 9. Major* (15.03m)
Heptathlon: None

Women's (31 Athletes, 45 entries over 16 events)
60m (4): 2. Gaby Horton* (7.50), 10. Sylvia Johansen (7.74), 13. Kammi Merritt (7.80), 14. Serenity Burnett-Perry* (7.81)
60m Hurdles (4): 9. Kaitlyn Pearson (9.10), 13. Atahlia Mills (9.26), 14. Rimari Facey* (9.28), 15. Jessie Schaffer (9.40)
200m (5): 1. Horton* (24.02), 4. Burnett-Perry* (25.10), 8. Merritt* (25.24), 11. Hannah Schissler (25.28), 16. Kiona Gonzales-Gibbs (25.83)
400m (4): 1. Jordan Burnett (55.65), 13. Lexie Williams* (59.10), 15. Facey* (59.84), 18. Madison Cook (1:01.54)
800m (1): 4. Brooke Miller (2:11.11)
Mile (1): 16. Megan Hodges (5:01.69)
3K (1): 16. Kirstin Williams (10:04.30)
5K (2): 6. Williams* (17:18.34), 9. Kendall White (17:42.62)
4x400m Relay (1 Team): 2. Team Members TBD (3:47.97)
Distance Medley Relay (1 Team): 5. Hodges*, Autumn McQuitty, Jordan Staniszewski, Williams* (12:09.89)
Weight Throw (3): 4. Augustine Hancock (17.22m), 10. Christina Palmer (15.24m), 12. Aaliyah Bos (14.73m)
Pole Vault: None
Long Jump (4): 10. Lily Nieslanik (5.49m), 13. Waycee Harvey (5.35m), 17. Addy Kirkpatrick (5.31m), 18. Kendra Ritzmann (5.30m)
High Jump (5): 3. Hope Matteson (1.65m), 6. Mills* (1.62m), 8. Kaelea Gibson (1.56m), 10. Sophie Lindauer (1.53m), 11. Olivia Langner (1.50m)
Triple Jump (2): 8. Ritzmann* (11.32m), 13. Nieslanik* (10.88m)
Shot Put (3): 4. Palmer* (13.34m), 9. Hancock* (12.38m), 11. Katie Thomson* (12.21m)
Pentathlon (4): 3. Thomson* (3279), 4. Matteson* (3264), 5. Lindauer* (3189), 6. Pearson* (3108)

On a National Scale

Although the indoor season will come to a close for the majority of the Mavericks this weekend, each will have one final opportunity to claim a spot in the Mar. 13-15 NCAA Division II Championships in Indianapolis with an impressive performance at the RMAC Championships.

Five Maverick individuals and the women's 4x400-meter relay team have set provisional qualifying marks in a combined eight events throughout the season.  However, only one in Gaby Horton is currently ranked inside the NCAA selection window, sitting 13^th in the country with her aforementioned 200-meter effort from last Friday.  She also ranks 22^nd nationally in the 60 meters.

Antone Higgs is also close to selection in the men's long jump, ranking 22^nd nationally, but will likely need to improve his mark to earn a national championship trip.

The top 18 declared athletes in individual events will be selected for the NCAA meet.  Sixteen athletes will be chosen in the combined events and the top 12 teams in the relay events will earn a spot.

Here's a look at the Mavs' current ranks and marks on the NCAA Division II Championship Qualification lists as of Thursday morning. - https://tf.tfrrs.org/lists/4868/2024_2025_NCAA_Division_II_Indoor_Qualifying

Women (7 marks)
60m: 22. Gaby Horton (7.50*)
200m: 13. Horton (24.02*), 72. Jordan Burnett (24.71)
400m: 34. Jordan Burnett (55.65)
800m: 34. Brooke Miller (2:11.11*)
Weight Throw: 39. Augustine Hancock (17.22m/56-6)
4x400m Relay: 35. CMU (Horton, Kammi Merritt, Miller, Burnett)- 3::47.97
Men (2 marks)
Long Jump: 22. Antone Higgs (7.35m/24-1.5)
Triple Jump: 30. Higgs (14.82m/48-7.5)

*-Altitude/Track Size Converted time

Past Champions

Four different Mavericks on the RMAC Championship roster have previously claimed conference gold.

Katie Thomson is the defending champion in the indoor pentathlon while Jordan Burnett won both the 200 and 400 meters at the 2023 RMAC Championships.  Burnett will only compete in the 400 this week.

Augustine Hancock won the 2024 RMAC Outdoor title in the hammer throw, an event with similar dynamics to the weight throw, which is half of her event schedule this week (shot put). 

Kelsey Montague, who won the 400-meter hurdles at the 2024 RMAC Outdoor Championships, will contest his final collegiate meet this weekend, running in the 400 meters.

Gunning for Honors

The top three finishers in each individual event will claim a medal, a spot on the podium and a First Team All-RMAC certificate.  Each member of the winning relay teams will also be named to the First Team All-RMAC squad.

The fourth through sixth place finishers in individual events and members of the runner-up relay squad will earn Second Team All-RMAC honors.

The RMAC Summit awards will also be bestowed to the men's and women's athletes with the highest GPAs that are competing in the meet.  The number of credit hours completed is the tie-breaker for those awards.  CMU's nominees are Chase Brown and Autumn McQuitty, who both hold 4.0 GPAs while running on the Mavs' distance medley relay teams.

In addition to the individual honors, athletes will be attempting to earn points for their team.  Team points are handed out to the top eight finishers in each event on a 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.

RMAC History

The Maverick men set a program-record by scoring 106 team points at last year's RMAC Championships, good for third place finish.  Their best ever finish came in 2022, when they took second.  The CMU men have finished amongst the top six teams at each of the last six RMAC Indoor Championships.

CMU's women have been even more successful as of late, taking second or third in each of the last four years.  They took second in both 2021 and 2022, scoring a program-record 110 points in the first of those two years.  CMU has finished third at the RMAC Indoor Championships in each of the last two seasons.

They have also won at least two events in each of the last five years.

RMAC Competition

As is usually the case, the RMAC Championship field is once again loaded as four men's teams currently sit inside the top 10 of the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association's National TFRI (Track & Field Rating Index).  Defending conference champion Colorado School of Mines is ranked fourth with 133.55 ratings points and is looking for a fourth straight team title while Adams State, CSU Pueblo and UCCS are ranked seventh, ninth and tenth, respectively.

The women's championship field is nearly as deep with four RMAC squad ranked in the top 13 nationally.  Adams State, which has won the last two national titles, is ranked fourth with 180.80 TFRI points while CSU Pueblo sits seventh with 115.86.  Mines and UCCS are ranked 8^th and 13^th respectively. 

Mines has won the last two RMAC Indoor Championships while UCCS won in 2021 and 2022.

Up Next

This weekend's meet will be the last of the indoor season for the majority of the Mavericks although the teams' top performers will await the announcement of qualifiers for the NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships, which is due out via NCAA.com on Tuesday afternoon by 4 p.m. MST.

The national meet will be held Mar. 13-15 in Indianapolis.

Meanwhile, the remainder of the Mavs will begin the transition to the outdoor season, which will begin at the Mar. 21-22 Dr. Dan Caprioglio Invitational at CSU Pueblo's ThunderBowl.