AZUSA, Calif.— In their first outdoor races in Maverick uniforms, freshmen Vasileios Salpas and Clayton Wilson both posted school-record times on one of the best distance running days in Colorado Mesa University track & field history on Friday here at the Bryan Clay Invitational.
 
Salpas, Wilson and women's teammate Megan Hodges all set NCAA Division II Championship provisional qualifying times as eight of the nine Mavericks in action throughout three different sessions all set career-best times that rank them amongst the Mavericks' all-time top 10 performers.
 
Salpas, a freshman from Athens, Greece, recorded a time of one minute, 49.35 seconds in the invitational division of the 800 meters in the afternoon session, smashing the Mavs' 11-year old record of 1:50.99 that ha been set by Shane Niksic in 2015.  Salpas' time also went well under the NCAA provisional qualifying standard of 1:50.76.
 
Meanwhile, Wilson ran to a 5,000-meter time of 14:08.75, exactly 21 seconds under the Mavs' 5-year old standard of 14:29.75 set by Tony Torres in 2021 and more than four seconds quicker than the NCAA provisional qualifying standard of 14:12.85.
 
In the same evening session, Hodges surpassed her former personal-best by nearly 19 seconds, registering a mark of 16:37.29 in the women's 5,000 meters.  She now ranks third in program history and on the national list after going under the NCAA provisional qualifying standard of 16:53.98.
 
Four other Maverick runners also set career-best 5K times during the morning session.
 
Runing in the same heat and together, Colton White and Chase Brown crossed the finish line together with the fourth and fifth fastest times in program history.  White finished in 14:33.24 while Brown was timed in 14:33.26.
 
In a women's heat, Jordan Staniszewski finished in 17:05.80, to move up two spots to fifth in program history.  Her time was nearly 40 seconds quicker than her former career-best effort of 17:46.06 set just over two weeks ago.
 
Meanwhile, Wehazit Kelati finished in 17:47.90, more than eight seconds better than her previous best, and continues to rank eighth in CMU history.
 
In afternoon 800-meter heats, Kyle Towne set a career-best of 1:53.01 and sits sixth in CMU history. 
 
Women's CMU record holder Brooke Miller also posted a season-best of 2:12.81.
 
All nine of the Mavericks are slated to run again on Saturday in various 1,500-meter heats.  Shirley Weaver, who set a 3,000-meter steeplechase school record time on Thursday, is also slated to run.