GUNNISON, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University indoor track & field team combined for 13 event wins and six new marks on their program's all-time top-10 charts during a solid day of action during the Big Red Machine Open on Saturday here in Western Colorado University's Mountaineer Fieldhouse.
 
Men's Recap
 
Van Chambers had the Mavs' top mark, winning the weight throw with a heave of 17.73 meters (58 feet, 2 inches), just 25 centimeters or ten inches off the Mavs' nearly 9-year old school record of 17.98 meters (59-0).  Teammate Kaiden Major also took second in the event with a mark of 16.56 meters (54-3.75) to move in to the No. 8 spot of program history.
 
Freshman Asa Keim also made a fine collegiate debut, winning the pole vault with a clearance of 4.66 meters (15-3.25) to move into third on the Mavs' all-time charts with what was CMU's best mark in seven years.
 
Freshman jumpers Benson White and Jalen Hale also made strong debuts. 
 
White led a 1-2-3 sweep in the high jump, clearing 1.97 meters (6-5.5) to move into the No. 9 spot of CMU history.  Fellow freshman teammates Grant Nemeth and Devin Shea both cleared 1.92 meters (6-3.5).
 
Hale took third in the triple jump with a mark of 14.13 meters (46-4.25) to take over the No. 10 spot in CMU lore.
 
The Mav men also claimed victory in the long jump and shot put as Austin Schultz matched his career-best throw of 14.90 meters (48-10.5), the same that he had in the Mavs' season-opening meet here last month.  Major took second with a mark of 14.76 meters (48-5) while Chambers set a career-best of 14.21 meters (46-7.25) to move up a spot to ninth in program history.
 
Hayden Moreno took the long jump with a leap of 6.96 meters (22-10), just two inches off his indoor career-best.
 
On the track, the Mavs' group of Winter Whittle, Peter Leary, Jack Singleton and Kyle Towne claimed the 4x400-meter relay in 3:34.32 while Trevor Kendall matched his career-best of 8.35 seconds to win the 60-meter hurdles as part of a first through fourth place CMU sweep.  Aidan Brownell was second in 8.38 seconds ahead of Logan Hafey (8.57) and AJ Iarusso (8.93).
 
Elsewhere, Moreno finished third in the 60-meter dash in 7.19 seconds while Hale was just behind in 7.20.
 
Women's Recap
 
The Maverick women won five events on the track and another in the triple jump.
 
Kaitlyn Pearson was the first track winner, taking the 60-meter hurdles in 8.95 seconds.
 
Megan Hodges followed that up in the mile, crossing first in 5:16.49, just off her career-best of 5:15.93 from last season's RMAC Championships.  Autumn McQuitty also took second in 5:27.97 while Lauren Hodges, Megan's twin-sister, was third in 5:33.60.
 
Waycee Harvey then continued the winning ways, taking the 400 in 1:01.38.
 
Later, Elaina Arcand won the 200 in 26.61 as the Mavs took the top four spots with Genesis Nehmer (27.00) and Olivia Langner (27.52) finishing second and third, respectively.  Rimari Facey, who also took third in the hurdles, finished fourth.
 
The Mavs' 4x400-meter relay quartet of Pearson, Jessie Schaffer, Langner and Arcand were also victorious in 4:00.77.
 
Meanwhile, Kendra Ritzmann claimed her second triple jump in as many meets??? This season, with a mark of 11.85 meters (38-10.5), just one centimeter off her NCAA provisional qualifying mark from last month's Mountaineer Open.
 
Other highlights included a second place time of 8.00 seconds from Nehmer in the 60 meters and a second place long jump effort of 5.35 meters (17-6.5) from Emily Hruby in the long jump.  Kaelea Gibson also took second in the high jump, clearing 1.57 meters (5-1.75).
 
Up Next
 
The Mavericks will be in action again next weekend, splitting their squad between the Mines Winter Classic in Golden, Colorado and the New Mexico Team Open in Albuquerque.  Both meets are on Friday and Saturday.