COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.— Colorado Mesa University junior Antone Higgs claimed the silver medal and a possible spot in next month's national championships with a long jump mark of 7.43 meters (24 feet, 4 ½ inches), the biggest of several highlights for the Colorado Mesa University men's indoor track & field team on the first day of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championships, which got underway here at UCCS' Mountain Lion Fieldhouse on Friday.
 
Higgs improved eight spots to as high as 14^th on the current national performance list with his effort, which also moved him up a spot to second on the Mavs' all-time performers' chart.  It came on his opening jump and stood to be the winning mark before UCCS' Richard Safoh, who came into the meet ranked first in the conference and fourth in Division II went past him by three centimeters with a fifth-round effort of 7.46 meters (24-5 ½).
 
If he can remain amongst the top 18 athletes from around the nation through Sunday, Higgs would earn a spot in the Mar. 11-13 NCAA Division II National Championships.
 
Higgs also scored eight team points for the Mavs, who are tied for fifth in the early team standings through five events with a dozen more to be scored on Saturday.
 
The Mavs also qualified four sprinters and hurdlers for Saturday's finals and had several other season and career-best performances throughout the day.
 
In the 60-meter hurdles, freshman Aidan Brownell moved up a spot to sixth in program history, winning his preliminary round heat in 8.25 seconds to qualify fifth for Saturday's final.  Teammate Logan Hafey also set a career-best time of 8.65 seconds to take 13^th while freshman Travor Kendall placed 14^th in 8.67 seconds in his first conference championship race.
 
In the 60-meter dash, Marik Cummins and Amaris Mora both posted career-best times of 6.82 seconds in the preliminary heats.  They are now tied for fifth in CMU history.  Cummings won his heat and qualified fifth for Saturday's final while Mora reached the finals on time after taking second in his heat.
 
Walker Mathews also turned in a career-best of 6.96 seconds to finish 15^th while Roman Sackman placed 17^th in 7.00.
 
In the 400 meters, fifth-year senior Kelsey Montague extended his career by a day, finishing sixth in the preliminary round with a time of 49.46 seconds to safely reach the 8-man final.
 
In the 200, Quentin Hartel placed 11^th in 22.53 seconds while Mora finished 14^th in 22.64.
 
The distance medley relay team of Kevin DeGree, Dylan Campbell, Kyle Towne and Chase Brown took tenth with a time of 10:53.60, 11^th fastest in program history.
 
Three field events were also contested on Friday with freshman Van Chambers taking ninth in the weight throw with a mark of 15.80 meters (51-10).  He was seeded ninth coming in as well.
 
Meanwhile, Garrett Searls moved up four spots from his pre-meet No. 14 seed to place tenth in the pole vault with a season-best clearance of 4.47 meters (14-7.75).

Salem Brunk also turned in a career-best of 6.77 meters (22-2.5) in the long jump to finish 11^th while Hayden Moreno placed 17^th at 6.19 meters (20-3.5) in his RMAC Championship debut.  Brunk was seeded 17^th coming into the meet.
 
The Colorado School of Mines leads the team standings with 63 points, 33 of which came in the 5,000 meters alone.  The Orediggers had the top three and six of the top seven finishers in that event.  Meet host UCCS is second with 54 while Western Colorado is in third with 21.  Adams State is fourth in the early standings with nine points, while the Mavs are one of four teams with eight.
 
The Maverick women had nine team-point scoring efforts in six events on Friday and are in third place out of 15 squads with 35 points.