GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Megan Hodges set a NCAA Division II Championship provisional qualifying time in the 5,000 meters while
Augustine Hancock won the women's weight throw, two of the highlights of a strong day filled with career-bests for the Colorado Mesa University track & field teams on Thursday at the High Desert Dental Maverick Invitational.
Hodges capped the evening distance running session with a time of 17 minutes, 12.76 seconds to eclipse the NCAA altitude-adjusted standard by nearly six seconds while finishing second in a field of nearly 40 runners split into two sections.
In the afternoon field event session, Hancock had a throw of 47.72 meters (156 feet, 7 inches) to claim the hammer throw win by nearly 11 feet.
The Mavericks also had nine new marks on their all-time top ten performers charts throughout the day, which featured action in three field events throughout the morning and afternoon before action in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and 5K distance running events in the evening.
Aaliyah Bos had a career-best mark of 43.79 meters (143-8) to finish third in the hammer throw and moved up a spot to eighth in program history.
Meanwhile,
Austin Schultz turned in an impressive personal-best of 49.00 meters (160-9) to take fourth in the men's hammer throw, more than nine feet better than his former best from just six days ago.
Kendra Ritzmann led CMU in the javelin throw with a mark of 34.98 meters (114-9), good for fifth place.
Meanwhile,
Waycee Harvey took third in the women's long jump with a career-best leap of 5.53 meters (18-1.75).
Emily Hruby also surpassed her career-best with a fourth place mark of 5.46 meters (17-11).
In the men's long jump
Hayden Moreno finished second with a mark of 6.80 meters (22-3.75) while CMU freshman
Weston Domich, who was competing unattached, put down a wind-aided mark of 7.32 meters (24-0.25) to claim victory.
Another CMU student in
Clayton Wilson also won the men's 5,000 meters while competing unattached. He finished in 14:38.76 while CMU's
Colton White took fourth in 15:07.14 while moving in to the No. 6 spot of program history.
In the women's half of the event,
Jordan Staniszewski finished in 17:46.06 to move in to the No. 7 spot of program history while freshman
Daisy Lalonde made her Maverick outdoor debut in 18:03.57 to place ninth and take over the No. 9 position in CMU lore.
The Mavs also had five new top ten program marks in the steeplechase.
Ryan O'Loughlin led the Mavs, taking fourth in 9:43.81 while
Owen Frank moved in to the No. 6 spot of program history with a sixth place time of 9:54.15.
Evan Morrison (10:13.61) and
Dominick Muller (10:20.88) also made their maiden attempts in the discipline and now stand eighth and ninth in program history.
Meanwhile,
Shirley Weaver shaved nearly three seconds off her 2025 freshman year best to take fifth in the women's race. Her time of 11:25.64 continues to have her ranked second in program history.
Estonian freshman
Alexandra Schipai also made her CMU track & field debut with a time of 12:47.55. She now ranks eighth in CMU history after earning all-region honors for the Maverick triathlon team in the fall.
Notably, two facility records were broken throughout the day.
Jaisen Brown, competing unattached, broke his own record in the men's hammer throw with a first round effort of 60.04 meters (197-0) while Adams State's David Millan posted a time of 9:06.65 to win the men's steeplechase and break the former record of 9:07.52, which had stood since the 2024 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championships.
Texas Relays Recap
The Mavericks also had two women competing in Austin, Texas on Thursday on Day 2 of the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays.
School-record holder
Kaiya Graves turned in a javelin throw effort of 38.35 meters (125-10) to take seventh in the top section of the University/College division.
Kammi Merritt then finished third in the timed finals portion of the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:01.48, less than a half-second off her career-best of 1:00.99 from two weeks ago.
Both meets will continue on Friday.
