GOLDEN, Colo.— Izaak Siefken and Seth Sherwood placed first and third in the javelin throw, respectively, while the Colorado Mesa University men's track & field team also received a pair of point-scoring efforts in the long jump to stand in third place through five scored events of the 2025 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships, which got underway Friday here at the Colorado School of Mines' Stermole Track & Field Complex.
 
CMU also picked up a point in the pole vault, which was contested inside the nearby Steinhauer Fieldhouse due to rainy conditions and scored 24 team points on the opening day of the 3-day meet, which will run through Saturday afternoon.
 
Siefken led throughout much of the javelin competition, which was the first event of the meet on Friday morning, but was passed in both the fourth and final round by CSU Pueblo's Ian Thomas.  However, Siefken responded as the final thrower in the finals order, uncorking his best throw on the final attempt of the competition to win the title with a mark of 61.31 meters (201 feet, 2 inches), more than 13 feet better than Thomas' second place mark of 57.56 meters (188-10).

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Sherwood, who finished with a best of 56.16 meters (184-3) on his opening attempt, was in second place through the first three rounds just a centimeter behind Siefken before Thomas moved into second earlier in the fourth round dropping Sherwood into the bronze medal position.
 
In the long jump, Antone Higgs placed fourth with a mark of 7.06 meters (23-2) on his final attempt while freshman Hayden Moreno placed seventh with a leap of 6.92 meters (22-8.5) in the opening round.
 
Garrett Searls tied for seventh in the pole vault, clearing 4.47 meters (14-8) on his only successful attempt before going out at 4.62 meters (15-1.75).
 
Outside in the hammer throw, Van Chambers recorded a career-best mark of 49.34 meters (161-10) to move up two spots to eighth in program history while finishing 11^th on the day.  Fellow freshman Kaiden Major also set a career-best of 45.88 meters (150-6) to finish 16^th.
 
The Mavericks were also represented in all five track events of the day, qualifying six combined runners in the four events that featured preliminary heats on Friday while Jackson Baker set a career-best time of 32:26.53 to finish 23^rd in the 10,000 meters at the end of the night.
 
In the 100 meters, Teo Casados won his heat in 10.61 seconds to grab the No. 2 seed in Sunday's final.  Marik Cummings also qualified in 10.76 seconds, finishing second in the preceding heat.
 
Meanwhile, defending RMAC Champion Justin Blanton got through to the 400-meter final, advancing on time with a mark of 48.78 (48.771) seconds, edging South Dakota Mines by just six one thousandths of a second for the final lane on Sunday.
 
In the 1,500 meters, Chase Brown finished in a career-best 4:00.60 to move into the No. 7 spot and qualify for Sunday's final as the No. 11 seed.
 
The Mavs also got two men through to the 400-meter hurdles final as freshman Aidan Brownell won his heat in 53.30 seconds while Logan Hafey took third in that heat and seventh overall in 54.26 seconds, a new career-best that moved him up two spots to fourth in program history.
 
CMU's women also had two scoring efforts, advanced four runners to the finals and have the third, fourth and fifth place heptathletes after Day 1 of the meet.