PITTSBURG, Kan. Western Colorado had two podium finishes on the first day of the NCAA Division II Men's and Women's Indoor Track and Field National Championships in Pittsburg, Kan., on Friday.
Simon Kelati placed third in the Men's 5,000 meter with a time of 13 minutes, 55.77 seconds, which is also a personal-best for Kelati. Through the first 1,400m, Kelati was in seventh place but surely made his way to the front of the pack. Kelati stayed at a pace of 50 seconds until he moved up to third place at 2,900m. Kelati finished the race with a constant pace of 48 seconds for the final 2,100m. Kelati was 4.75 seconds behind the first-place finisher.
The women's distance medley relay, which included Leah Taylor, Emma Kjellsen, Peyton Weiss and Kaiya Firor, placed fourth with a time of 11:26.44. The Mountaineers were only nine seconds behind the first-place finisher and one second behind the third-place finisher. The men's DMR – Esteban Deniz, Landon Gary, Eddie Siuda and John Houdeshell – placed ninth with season-best time of 9:54.99.
Taylor qualified for the women's mile final tomorrow at 4:50 p.m. The sophomore clocked in a personal-best time of 4:47.63, which earned her seventh placing going into tomorrow's finals. Taylor was in sixth place going at the 1,009m mark but moved her way to finish fourth in her heat with a spread of just ver four seconds in the final 600m of the race.
Tomorrow, the Mountaineers will have representation in the women's mile and 3,000m from Taylor. Tyler Nord and Kelati will both run in the men's 3,000 slated for a 6:05 start time.
