ALAMOSA, Colo. – The Colorado State Pueblo men's and women's track teams turned in several strong performances on the first day of the 2023 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships held here at Adams State's High Altitude Training Center Bubble.
After the first day of the championships, the CSU Pueblo men sit in fifth place out of 11 schools with 21 points after five events, while the CSU Pueblo sit in eighth place out of 13 schools with nine points after six events. Western Colorado leads the men's team competition with 38 points, while UCCS is second on the men's side with 35 points. Meanwhile, for the women, Colorado School of Mines sits in first place with 75 points, while UCCS is second with 43 points.
On the men's side, senior
Carl Schmidt (Wiesbaden, Germany/Elly-Heuss School) got the Pack off to a strong start as he was fifth in the 60-meter hurdle preliminaries. He qualified for Saturday's event final with an NCAA Provisional time of 8.22.
In the 400-meter dash qualifying, freshman
Ryan King (Pueblo, Colo./Pueblo West) fell just short of earning in the finals as he was 14th with a time of 50.67.
The first event final of Friday's opening day of action came in the 5,000-meter run as sophomore
Joseph Harker (Rehoboth, N.M./Bryant & Stratton College) was 13th with a time of 16:18.63.
CSU Pueblo scored its first points of the meet in the Distance Medley Relay (DMR) finished second overall with an NCAA Provisional and facility record with a time of 10:05.20. The team, which scored eight points for finishing second, consisted of fifth-year senior
Matisse Virey (Lyon, France), junior
Tyrell Smith (Colorado Springs, Colo./Mesa Ridge), junior
Kaleb Tipton (Lawton, Okla./Lawton) and sophomore
Reece Sharman-Newell (Hampshire, England).
The Pack had two athletes finish in the Top 4 of the weight throw as senior
Nate Miller (Colorado Springs, Colo./Widefield) was second with a facility record, NCAA Provisional mark and CSU Pueblo season best of 19.22 meters. Senior
Justin Jenks (Helena, Mont./Helena Capital) was fourth with an NCAA Provisional toss of 18.40 meters. The Pack scored 13 of their 21 points in the weight throw.
In the final event final, which was the long jump, Schmidt just missed a Top 8 finish as he finished ninth with a leap of 7.08 meters. Along with Schmidt, freshman
Cedrick Kassi (Plano, Texas/Plano West) and freshman
Keith McInnis (Denver, Colo./Denver North) were 12th and 13th with marks of 6.77 meters and 6.69 meters respectively.
On the women's side, redshirt freshman
Sarah Renberg (Fresno, Calif./Edison) was 15th in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 19:12.44.
The Pack's first points in the meet came in the Distance Medley Relay (DMR) as CSU Pueblo's team of
Jadyn Herron-Jonap (Queen Creek, Ariz./Casteel), sophomore
Ella Harris (Star, Idaho/Eagle), sophomore
Taylor Holland (Pueblo, Colo./Pueblo County) and sophomore
Helen Braybrook (Fireston, England/Oakham School) was fifth with a time of 12:22.65.
While in the weight throw, sophomore
Olivia Mikaelian (Albuquerque, N.M./El Dorado) was fourth with an NCAA Provisional mark of 17.61 meters. Sophomore
Katherine Higgins (Mead, Colo./Ponderosa) was 12th with a toss of 15.05 meters.
The Pack men and women will be back on the track tomorrow morning to compete in day two of the RMAC Championships, with events scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.
