PUEBLO, Colo.  Four athletes competed on day two of the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships for Western Colorado and all four athletes walked away with All-American honors. So far, the Mountaineers have earned five All-American honors in total.
 
As a whole, the Mountaineers concluded day two with the women in sixth-place and the men in eighth-place.
 
ALL-AMERICAN – Ismael Dembele

• After having to wait a little due to a lighting delay and for heat one to finish, Ismael Dembele lined up at his mark on the runaway, took a deep breath and sprinted down the runaway. Dembele hopped, bounded and soared through the air and landed at a distance of 15.12m (49-07.25) on his second attempt.
• That mark put Dembele in fifth-place and would be good enough to qualify for the finals – earning him three more attempts. Dembele was unable to improve his mark. Yet, it didn't matter as it would hold up and resulted in him coming in seventh-place in the men's triple jump. Additionally, Dembele was ranked 10th heading into the event.

ALL-AMERICAN – Allison Beasley

• Allison Beasley had a dominate performance in the women's 3,000m steeplechase as she blew her 11th pre-race rankings out of the water – by coming in second-place with a sixth all-time performance of 10:24.98.
• While Beasley was ranked 11th to start, she never fell out of the top-five for the entire race – going from fifth-place on the very first lap up to fourth-place for the 600m, 1,000m and 1,400m marks of the race. On the next lap (1,800m) she would improve her placing to third-place and then took control of second-place for the remainder of the race, leading to her earning her first outdoor All-American honor and fifth collegiate All-American honor.

ALL-AMERICAN – Albert Hesse

• Similar to Beasley, Albert Hesse outperformed his seventh pre-race rankings, crossing the finish line in second-place with a time of 9:12.76 – earning his first All-American honors.
• There was never doubt that Hesse was going to be an All-American as he - identically to Beasley – was in the top-five for the entire race. Hesse started things out in fourth-place, then dropped to fifth-place for the 600m, 1,000m, and 1,400m mark of the race. Hesse started to make his move after that, jumping up to third-place for the 1,800m and 2,200m mark of the race. He continued to improve from there moving to second-place before the race came to an end.

ALL-AMERICAN – Michael Grabowski

• Keeping up with the trend of outperforming their pre-race rankings Michael Grabowski ran his race and shattered his pre-race rank of 17th, by finishing in eighth-place with a time of 9:22.31 - earning his second collegiate All-American honor, first All-American honor in outdoor track and field.
• Grabowski started off strong, holding the sixth spot among the pack. But, would drop to eight-place on the very next lap (600m). He would on to hold the eight spot for the 1,000m, 1,400m 1,800m and 2,200m marks of the race, briefly moving up to seventh-place at the 2,600m mark. Grabowski had to empty the tank on the final lap as the ninth-place finisher – Felix Perrier from Azusa Pacific - was right on his heels finishing .07 milliseconds behind Grabowski.

 
SATURDAY SCHEDULE
1:15pm women's shot put – Ali Aldrich
5:35pm women's 1500m final – Leah Taylor
5:45pm men's 1500m final– Simon Kelati, Tyler Nord
7:20pm women's 400mh final – Kaiya Firor
8:05pm women's 5k final – Allison Beasley, Katie Doucette
8:30pm men's 5k final– Simon Kelati, Tyler Nord
 
UP NEXT
The Mountaineers will be back in action at 1:15 p.m., tomorrow (May 27) as Ali Aldrich will look to earn All-American honors in the women's shot put.