GUNNISON, Colo. --- Mountaineers put on a show in Mountaineer Field House for Senior Night. At the Western Colorado Alumni Open, nineteen seniors were honored, as Friday night was their last chance competing on their home track in a collegiate setting.
The nineteen seniors recognized on Senior Night were
Graham Butcher,
Zach Cooper,
Ricky Esqueda,
Ross Husch,
Adrian Iribe,
Kahlil James,
Woodrow Murray-Wood,
Juman Randall,
Jonathan Specht,
Evan Sutherland,
Tessa Anderson,
Malindi (Lindi) Congour,
Jessica Cusick,
Audree Furst,
Kayla Mullen,
Emily Ortiz,
Emily Smith,
Tianna Terrell, and
Alizabeth Williams.
Western Colorado made the best of their home track advantage as they won on both the men's (197 points) and women's (139 points) side. The team won 20 events in the team scoring category, setting a school record in the process, along with five all-time top 10 school record performances and also having six NCAA provisional improvements.
Brian Schmidt came up big with a huge improvement to set a new school record in the long jump. Schmidt leaped 15.5 inches further than his previous personal best, not only setting a record in the process but also landing himself the No. 17 spot in the nation. His record setting leap was a whopping 7.34 meters (24' 1") coming off his first jump of the day to win the competition.
In the men's 800,
Gage Mayo ran a solo effort to earn the No. 12 spot in the nation and earning Western Colorado's fifth fastest time in school history. Mayo clocked a time of 1:54.24 that will convert to a 1:51.03.
In the Luke Miller Memorial Mile,
Jonathan Specht and
Evan Sutherland held a solid place as both placed in the top 20 in the nation. Specht won the event with a time of 4:21.85 (4:07.23 converted) placing him No. 16 nationally as Sutherland clocked 4:23.21 (4:08.52 converted) to give him the No. 20 spot in the nation.
Moving up in the national rankings was Western Colorado's
Charlie Sweeney in the 3,000 as he ran a time of 8:40.89 (8:09.16 converted) with the help of
Taylor Stack's pacing. With his converted time, Sweeney holds the No. 12 fastest time this season in division two.
Earning the loudest roar of the night,
Collin Scheuring set a huge personal best in the pole vault as he cleared 5.00 meters (16' 4.75") to win the competition. With his new personal best, Scheuring now holds the No. 14 spot in division two. His previous best heading into the meet was 4.73 meters set over a year ago.
Setting the seventh furthest women's triple jump in Western Colorado history,
Jessica Blahnik bounded for 11.56 meters to win the event. Her pervious personal best in the event came at the Mountain Lion Open where she jumped for 10.98 meters.
Cole Jaquette landed ninth on the Western Colorado all-time top 10 list after he ran a time of 8.39 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles to clinch first place in team scoring.
In the men's 400,
Adrian Iribe clocked a time of 49.73 to finish first and land No. 10 in the Mountaineer all-time record books in the event.
First Place Finishers (Team Scoring):
The Mountaineers will be back in action next week as they head to Colorado Springs to compete at the RMAC Championships held by the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. The conference championships take place on Feb. 28-29.
