The UCCS Track and Field team broke records during their two-day matchup in the Maverick Multi and Open, hosted by Colorado Mesa University (CMU).
According to the Go Mountain Lions webpage, the record breaking began Friday, when senior Dawson Hopkinson broke the outdoor school record in pole vault with a mark of 5.11 meters. The mark gave Hopkinson a new personal record.
Junior and RMAC Indoor Track Athlete of the Year Layla Almasri also registered the first provisional mark of the weekend by ending in first place with a time of 17 minutes, 33.04 seconds in the 500-meter. This was a new facility record.
Outdoor freshman Riley McGrath followed Almasri, as she clocked a second-place time of 17:37.19. Freshman Sarah Bassett also earned her way into the top-10 with a seventh-place time of 18:47.16.
The Mountain Lions claimed three of the top-4 finishes in the javelin. Caroline Walters led the way with a new facility record and a first-place mark at 35.44m. Freshman Kamryn Bohlken was in second place with a mark at 31.56m, and Cassielynn Bonner took fourth with a throw at 29.15 meters.
For the men’s side, Daniel Furcron ended up in second place, registering 26.41 meters with his throw.
In the discus throwing event, freshmen Emily Arseneau and Caden Showwalter notched new personal records. Arseneau finished in sixth place with a 35.97-meter throw and Showalter finished in seventh place with a 43.74-meter throw.
The men’s decathlon had two Mountain Lions in the top 5. Freshman Thorben Hast sat in third place with 3,642 points and junior Sam Repsher sat in fourth place with 3,439 points after five events.
In the women’s heptathlon, four events were wrapped on Friday with Ella McKinna-Worrell leading the Mountain Lions in second place at 2,650 points. Outdoor freshman Faith Novess ended in fifth place at 2,546 points, and freshman Cassidy Bittner ended in ninth with 2,242 points.
According to the Go Mountain Lion’s Webpage, more records were broken on day two of the event on Saturday.
Almasri and McGrath picked up where they left off on Friday by racing to first and second place in the 1500 meter. Both athletes improved their provisional qualifying times. Almasri’s event winning converted time of 4:26.56 set a new facility record at the CMU Track & Field Complex. McGrath bested her previous personal record time by more than two seconds.
Redshirt sophomore Evan Graff clocked the second fastest men’s 1500m time in program history with a time of 3:51.21, for a converted 1500m time of 3:46.67. His results were added to the national qualifying times.
Junior Peter Ackah notched UCCS’ first field event win on Saturday. He set a new facility record with his first jump of the day with a winning mark of 7.16m in the long jump. Fellow Mountain Lion and junior Dakota Abbott also claimed the second-place spot for UCCS, after he jumped at a mark of 7.08m.
Freshman Emily Areseneau shattered the UCCS women’s outdoor shot-put record on Saturday. She threw a distance of 13.72 meters and took third in the event.
Redshirt Freshman Justyn Loper registered a provisional mark of 55.62m in the men’s weight throw as he set a new facility record and won the event.
In the men’s decathlon Saturday, Hast scored 6,673 points during his first event this season and took fourth place as he broke the outdoor school record. Worrell ended with 4,296 points in the women’s heptathlon and finished in second place for the two-day event.
UCCS travels to Golden, Colorado to compete in the Kit Mayer Classic on Saturday, April 17, hosted by Colorado School of Mines.
All statistics were found on the Go Mountain Lions webpages.
