VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – The Colorado State University Pueblo men's and women's track teams finished tied for 10th and tied for 12th respectively here Saturday on second and final day of action at the 2023 NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field National Championships held here at the Virginia Beach Sports Center.
At the meet, the CSU Pueblo men's team scored in all four of the events they had qualifiers in and tallied a total of 20 points to sit tied for 10th place with Wingate, Harding and Mississippi College, while the CSU Pueblo women posted a tie for 12th with 19 points as they scored in both of their events that had qualifiers in. The Pack were tied with Lenoir-Rhyne for 12th place.
In Saturday's final day of competition, the Pack women claimed two National Runner-up finishers as sophomore
Helen Braybrook (Frieston, United Kingdom/Oakham School) ran a season best time of 2:07.04 to earn the silver medal and claim a national runner-up finish in the 800 meters. With her silver medal, Braybrook earns All-American honors in indoor track for the second straight year as she was an All-American after being on CSU Pueblo's gold medal winning Distance Medley Relay team in 2022. Braybrook was the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference champion this year in the 800 meters and posted the fastest qualifying time in Friday's preliminaries. Seattle Pacific's Vanessa Aniteye claimed the national title in the 800 meters with a time of 2:06.84.
In addition to Braybrook, the Pack's other National Runner-up finish came from sophomore
Katherine Higgins (Mead, Colo./Ponderosa) in the women's shot put as Higgins' earned the silver medal in the event on Saturday with a personal best school record toss of 15.63 meters (51'3.50") to earn All-American honors. In the shot put, Higgins' who was the No. 2 qualifier in the event heading into nationals, Findlay's Trista Fintel took home the gold medal and the national title with a toss of 16.04 meters (52-7.50"), which was a Virginia Beach Sports Center record.
Along with Higgins, freshman
Febe Wessels also earned First-Team All-American honors after recording a sixth place finish in the shot put with a personal best mark of 15.10 meters (49'6.50").
Meanwhile, on the men's side, senior
Justin Jenks (Helena, Mont./Helena Capital) picked the right time to toss his season best mark in the shot put as Jenks tallied a toss of 18.75 meters (61'6.25") to finish with a bronze medal in the event. Jenks' toss was nearly a meter behind the gold medalist, Grand Valley State's Myles Kerner, who posted a mark of 19.71 meters (64'8"). It was his second straight third place finish at the indoor national championships as he also earned the bronze medal last year.
Perhaps the most surprising result in the men's shot put came from senior
Nate Miller (Colorado Springs, Colo./Widefield) as the defending indoor silver medalist finished in fifth place this year after recording a toss of 18.38 meters (60'3.75") on Saturday. Miller entered this year's indoor nationals as the No. 2 seed, but still repeated as a First-Team All-American.
The only other competitor on Saturday for the Pack men was
Reece Sharman-Newell (Hampshire, England) as he posted a fourth place finish in the 800 meter run with a time of 1:48.82. Sharman-Newell had run the second fastest time in Friday's qualifying. Angelo State's Oussama El Bouchayby took home the gold medal with a meet and fieldhouse record time of 1:46.79. Sharman-Newell, though, earned First Team All-America status with his finish.
Pittsburg State captured the men's national title by scoring a total of 86 points. The Gorillas finished 44 points in front of runner-up Adams State, who scored 42 points, while Grand Valley State was third with 24 points.
The women's national team title went to Adams State as they scored 52 points to finish one point in front of runner-up Minnesota State, who scored 51 points and six points in front of third place, West Texas A&M, who scored 46 points.
CSU Pueblo will begin its 2023 outdoor track season next weekend (March 17-18) as they host the first of three consecutive home meets at the CSU Pueblo ThunderBowl. Next week's first home meet is the Dr. Dan Caprioglio Early Bird Invitational.
