ALAMOSA, Colo. – The Colorado State University Pueblo men's and women's track teams took home five gold medals on the second day of the 2023 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships held here at Adams State's High Altitude Training Center Bubble.
Three of those five gold medals were won by the men's team, while two golds were earned by the women's team.
Thanks to its three gold medals, five silver medals and a bronze medal, the Pack men's team took home third place out of 12 teams as the ThunderWolves scored 83.33 points to finish nearly 22 points behind runner-up Adams State, who finished second with 105 points. UCCS took home its fourth consecutive men's indoor title as they earned 143 points.
Meanwhile, on the women's side, the Pack scored a total of 42 points to finish sixth out of 13 teams. The Pack were 20 points behind fifth place Adams State, who scored 62 points. Colorado School of Mines picked up its first-ever women's indoor title after scoring 139.5 points, while UCCS was second with 129 points.
The star of the meet for the Pack men was senior
Nate Miller (Colorado Springs, Colo./Widefield) as he shared the RMAC Men's Athlete of the Meet Award after scoring 18 points for the ThunderWolves. Miller took home a gold medal with a throw of 18.64 meters in the shot put and was second in the weight throw with a school record and a facility record mark of 19.22 meters. Miller shared the honor with South Dakota Mines' Jade Cass, who was first in the high jump (2.07 meters) and second in the heptathlon with 4,939 points.
On the women's side, the star of the meet was sophomore
Katherine Higgins (Mead, Colo./Ponderosa) and sophomore
Helen Braybrook (Frieston, United Kingdom/Oakham School) as Higgins took home a gold medal in the women's shot with an RMAC, school and facility record mark of 15.56 meters, while Braybrook took home a gold medal in the 800 meter run with an NCAA provisional time of 2:11.43.
On the men's side, the Pack's other gold medal winners on Saturday were sophomore
Reece Sharman-Newell (Hampshire, England) in the 800 meters with an NCAA provisional and facility record 1:51.80 and the men's 4-x-400-meter relay team that recorded a time of 3:18.23 to win nearly two seconds over runner-up Western Colorado, who posted a time of 3:20.50. The members of the relay team were junior
Tyrell Smith (Colorado Springs, Colo./Mesa Ridge), junior
Kaleb Tipton (Lawton, Okla./Lawton), senior
Carl Schmidt (Wiesbaden, Germany/Elly-Heuss School) and Sharman-Newell.
In addition to Sharman-Newell and the 4-x-400 meter team, the other medal winners on Saturday were freshman
Keith McInnis (Denver, Colo./Denver North) earned a silver medal in the high jump with a mark of 2.02 meters, while senior
Justin Jenks (Helena, Mont./Helena Capital) was second in the shot put with an NCAA provisional mark of 18.22 meters and junior
Terrel Johnson (Fairbanks, Alaska/West Valley) was third in the heptathlon with an NCAA provisional mark of 4,882 points.
The other medalist on Saturday's second day of the championships, Tipton took home a silver medal in the 800 meters with an NCAA Provisional time of 1:53.30.
On the women's side, the 4-x-400 relay was sixth with a season best time of 4:00.95. The member of the relay team were sophomore
Ella Harris (Star, Idaho/Eagle), Braybrook,
Taylor Holland (Pueblo, Colo./Pueblo County) and freshman
Mary Scroggins (Rangely, Colo./Rangley).
Sophomore
Mikayla Jones (Aurora, Colo./Vista Peak Prep) was sixth in the high jump with a mark of 1.51 meters and seventh in the triple jump with a mark of 11.10 meters.
Freshman
Febe Weesels (Pretoria, South Africa) was fourth in the shot put with an NCAA provisional mark of 14.60 meters.
The top three finishers in each event are named All-RMAC First-Team selections, while the fourth, fifth and sixth-place finishers are tabbed All-RMAC Second-Team honorees. For the relay events, the first place team earn first team honors and the second place team earns second team honors.
First-Team All-RMAC selections