College Weekend in Review

Big Sky Conference Championship

The University of Northern Colorado went to Idaho State University for their conference championship, and it will not go down as one of the great weekends in UNC track and field history.

The highlights on the men's side w34 a 5-6 finish from Jordan Medina and Chris Sterling in the 400 and a second for Alex Mead in the 200. Altogether, UNC pieced together 19 points.

For the women, things were a little brighter. A second in the DMR highlighted the day. Adding points to that mark were Rachel Hinker with a 6th (60), an 8th (200), a third in the long jump, Alisha Allen with a sixth in the pentathlon, plus a smattering of points elsewhere to total to 29.

Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships

The University of Colorado traveled to Seattle with mixed results. Jake Hurysz and Joe Bosshard got the 3000 qualifying marks they needed to advance to nationals, and Ben Saarel should remain in the field. Joe Bosshard remains in the 5000 field, but Morgan Pearson won't make the cut unless there are scratches ahead of him. Mark Jones endures a similar fate in the high jump--out unless there are scratches ahead of him. And, the same status awaits Alex Kizirian in the weight throw.

For the women, Colorado qualifies only Shalaya Kipp in the 5000.

Mountain West Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships

Generally speaking, the spots were only slightly, if at all, brighter for the Colorado teams at the Mountain West Indoor Championships. Although, to nobody's great surprise, New Mexico claimed both team titles, Colorado State was able to walk away with a second in the men's competition. 

Currently, Colorado State's Trevor Brown sits as the first one in if anyone ahead of him scratches in the 60 meter hurdles. Air Force's Joey Uhle sits in an identical position with respect to the pole vault after being solidly in the top 16 all indoor season. But, CSU's Kiah Hicks posted a monster weight throw of 70-1.5 this weekend to earn her spot in Albuquerque this weekend.

RMAC Indoor Championships

The RMAC, of course, is a different deal. With schools like Western, Adams, Mines, and the rest, national qualifiers are the norm and not the exception. In fact, there were plenty of provisional marks from Friday and Saturday that will not advance to nationals in North Carolina in two weeks.

Some of the marks from this weekend that will advance to nationals, however (and not to exclude marks that have already qualified) include Kayon Robinson and Whitney Rowe in the 60 meters (there may be a couple more from the meet as well depending on where breaks are made), freshman Jessica Scherrer of Adams State in the 400, Chandler Reid of Adams and Kirk Harvey of Metro in the mile (with Adam Sinda possibly making the cut as well), Lauren Martin and Janelle Lincks in the 3000 (with potentially a couple more quaifiers), Kevin Batt, Jovanny Godinez, Ty Williams, and Ian Butler all making the 5000 cut and joined there by Tara Richardson on the women's side, Adams State posting a huge women's qualifier in the 4x400, the Adams and Western men solidifying their DMR qualifiers, Barbara Szabo throwing down a major challenge to the field by once again clearing 6-3.25 in the high jump then adding an auto qualifier in the triple jump as well, Carlton Lavong boosting his triple jump mark to over 52 feet, and Wesley Lavong boosting his shot put mark to 61-9. Clearly, if you weren't there, you missed a lot.

There was a small handful of additional provisional qualifiers out of the RMAC meet that may end making nationals pending field size determinations and scratches. We'll have to wait and see on those.

For all the other athletes, however, the fresh air and sunshine of outdoor track and field beckons.