GUNNISON, Colo.  Several Mountaineers posted season bests Saturday at the Big Red Machine Open in the Mountaineer Field House, hosted by the Western Colorado track & field program.

The opening event provided winning finishes in both the women's and men's 800-meter runs. Emma Kjellsen raced to a season best time of 2 minutes, 16.65 seconds in the women's race, leading second-place teammate Lauren Willson (2:18.44) to the tape.

When the men hit the oval in the event it was Western's Caden Peters who captured first place in a season best 1:59.92.

Kelia Portis was next to earn a season PR, winning the women's 400 in 58.11 seconds. In the men's 400, Will Stone ran to a season PR of 50.77 in finishing second.

Myia Dantzler registered a career best of 7.57 seconds to win the women's 60, and soon after, won the 200 in a personal indoor best of 25.37.

The mile races added top finishes for Western in the women's and men's events.

Allison Beasly posted a 27-second victory in the women's mile, pushing across the finish in a season best 5:02.17, and in the following men's mile, John Houdeshell (4:21.48) and Oliver Diaz (4:24.00) posted indoor best times in going 1-2 for the Mountaineers.

In the final event on the track, Gretchen Slattum won the women's 3,000 in a time of 10:49.00, and Kyle Prartin won the men's 3,000 in a time of 8:56.72.

Western registered 1-2 finishes in a pair of field events, the women's high jump and the men's triple jump.

Nykole Meshew won the high jump with a height of 1.68-meters (5 feet-6 inches), the same height as second-place teammate Sammie Bretz. The place difference was a result of Meshew clearing her final height on her first attempt and Bretz doing so on her third attempt.

Cullen McReynolds and Nolan Kemper took the top two spots in the triple jump, McReynolds flying to a distance of 13.60m (44-7.25) while Kemper landed in the pit with a best leap of 13.46m (44-1.75). McReynolds also won the men's long jump, posting a leap of 6.97m (22-10.25).

In the women's long jump, Gaby Huggins led a cast of five Mountaineers on the podium steps, reaching 5.52m (18-1.25) on her best leap.

The last event of the day was the men's pole vault and Western added one more first place as Braydon Young cleared a career best height of 4.93m (16-2) to lead a 1-2-3 finish in the event.

UP NEXT
The Mountaineers will split their squad for Feb. 14-15 meets, with one contingent heading to Seattle, Wash., for the Husky Classic and the other traveling to Pocatello, Idaho, for Idaho State's Mountain State Games.