GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— A record-smashing time of 39.62 seconds in the men's 4x100-meter relay highlighted an impressive day of marks for the Colorado Mesa University track and field team which combined for four NCAA Division II Championship provisional qualifying efforts and 17 event wins in Friday's portion of the Maverick Early Bird Open.
 
The Mavericks had also set a pair of javelin records and won six field events in Friday's portion of the meet.
 
Amaris Mora, Joseph Randolph, Marik Cummings and Teo Casados smashed the former school-record time of 40.21 seconds and the track-record of 40.34 as they posted the only sub-40 second relay time in NCAA Division II so far this season. 
 
Their altitude-adjusted time of 39.74 currently leads the division by 0.68 seconds and is a virtual lock to qualify the Mavs for the national meet in May.  The time would have ranked the Mavs fourth on last year's national performance list.
 
The Mavs' effort is also third fastest in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference history.
 
Cummings then came back to win the 100 meters in 10.54 seconds while Mora took second in 10.66 to move into the No. 4 spot of program history behind Mora, who has a wind-legal career best of 10.52.
 
Meanwhile, Casados won the 200 in 21.08 while Randolph was second in 21.16 to take over the No. 3 spot in CMU history in his Maverick outdoor debut meet.  That duo both ran a week ago at the NCAA Division II Indoor Championships in Viriginia Beach, Virginia, where Casados earned first team all-America status.
 
The men's sprint crew was just part of an overall impressive day for the CMU teams in their first outdoor meet of the year.
 
Antone Higgs posted a career-best and NCAA provisional qualifying triple jump effort of 15.08 meters (49-5.75) after winning the long jump on Friday.  Meanwhile, Salem Brunk took second with an outdoor career-best of 14.55 meters (47-9) to move up two spots to seventh in CMU history.
 
The Maverick men also completed a sweep of the weekend's throwing events as Van Chambers led a 1-2-3 sweep in the discus throw with a career-best mark of 45.98 meters (150-10) to move up a spot to seventh in CMU history.  Kaiden Major, who won the hammer throw on Friday, took second with a career-best of 42.91 meters (140-9) while Austin Schultz took third at 41.83 meters (137-3), before winning the shot put later in the day with a heave of 15.51 meters (50-10.75), which was an outdoor career-best.  Schultz's discus throw as also a career best.
 
The Maverick women also had a pair of NCAA provisional qualifying efforts as sophomore Kammi Merritt won the 400-meter hurdles in 1:00.99 nearly a full second quicker than her 2025 career best of 1:01.83.
 
Meanwhile, Kaiya Graves won the discus throw with a NCAA mark of 45.79 meters (150-3) after smashing her own school-record with a NCAA provisional mark in Friday's javelin throw.  The Maverick junior moved up four spots to third in CMU history with her discus throw effort as Kylie Mayer and Augustine Hancock also were a part of a 1-2-3 CMU sweep.
 
Elsewhere, Kaitlyn Pearson, Sylvia Johansen, Merritt and Hannah Schissler opened up the Mavs' efforts on the track with a 4x100-meter relay win in 46.69  seconds.
 
The women's distance crew then had four of the top five finishers in the 1,500 meters as Brooke Miller took second in 4:38.50 while Megan Hodges was third in 4:40.04.  Meanwhile, Jordan Staniszewski was fourth in 4:42.80 to move into the No. 7 spot of program history. 
 
Atahlia Mills then won the 100-meter hurdles in 15.13 seconds before Elaina Arcand set a career-best time of 57.14 seconds to lead a 1-2-3 sweep in the 400 meters.  Arcand's mark moved her in to the No. 6 spot of program history while Waycee Harvey (58.56) and Abby Varner (59.80) also finished in under a minute.
 
Later, Schissler won the 100 meters in 11.89 seconds to move in to the No. 5 spot of CMU history.
 
Merritt's hurdling effort was one of three new marks on the Mavs' top 10 performers list.  Olivia Langner took second in 1:02.97 moved up to fourth in CMU history while Jessie Schaffer clocked a career-best time of 1:03.60 to claim the No. 5 spot.
 
Schissler then rounded out the Maverick women's wins on the track, taking the 200 in 24.69 seconds to claim the No. 6 spot in program history.  Arcand finished second in 25.75 seconds.
 
In the field, Kaelea Gibson won the high jump with a career-best mark of 1.64 meters (5-4.5) to move up to sixth in CMU history.  Mills was second at 1.50 meters (4-11).
 
The Maverick men also had some other notable efforts as Chase Brown took second in the 1,500 meters with a time of 3:57.25 to move up three spots to fourth in CMU history. 
 
Aidan Brownell also won both hurdling events in dominant fashion, taking the 110 by more than a second in 14.63 seconds to move up three spots to third in CMU history.  He later won the 400 hurdles in 53.76 seconds, good for a 2.74-second cushion.
 
In the 800, Kyle Towne and Jayden Thulson shined.  Towne won a thriller in 1:53.38, nearly fourth tenths under his former career-best of 1:53.77, set in 2024.  Thulson also had PR time of 1:54.79 to finish fourth.
 
The Mavericks will head out on the road next week to compete in CSU Pueblo's Chuck Haering Invitational next Friday and Saturday (Mar. 27-28) before returning home to host the High Desert Dental Maverick Invite on Apr. 2-3.