ALLENDALE, Mich. (May 27, 2022) – The Colorado State University Pueblo track and field programs capped off the final day of the preliminaries at the NCAA DII National Championships with the 4x400-meter relay squad and three men in the 800-meter dash to reach the finals.
 
Nathan Hood (Sr., St. Davids, Grenada) kicked things off for the ThunderWolves in the 800-meter race with a second-place finish in the first heat. The top two finishers in each heat automatically qualify with the next three fastest times from each heat earning the final three bids to the finals. Hood crossed the line in 1:50.42 to register the sixth fastest time of the qualifiers.
 
The final heat was just as exciting as a finals race as all eight athletes knew the time they had to beat in order to get a nod at the finals. Reece Sharman-Newell (Fr.) dominated on the back-half of the two-lap race to finish second in his heat with a time of 1:48.29. The freshman joined Hood as an automatic qualifier to Saturday's final.
 
Not far behind Sharman-Newell in the final heat was Kaleb Tipton (So., Lawton, Okla.) who earned the final spot in the finals with the third fastest time of the nonautomatic qualifiers with a time of 1:49.68.
 
Sharman-Newell and Hood later joined Carl Schmidt (So., Wiesbaden, Germany) and Tyrell Smith (So., Colorado Springs Colo.) in the 4x400-meter relay race as the squad finished fifth in the second heat. The top two teams from the two heats earned automatic bids with the next five fastest time making up the final fine spots. The ThunderWolves ran the fifth fastest time of the nonautomatic qualifiers to earn a trip to tomorrows finals with a time of 3:12.26.
 
Helen Braybrook (Fr.) ran the fourth fastest time in the 800-meter run after the automatic qualifiers after finishing fourth in the second heat with a time of 2:10.14 to finish 10th overall. The time is the seventh fastest time in program history.