GOLDEN, Colo.  The Western Colorado outdoor track & field program is splitting its squad for meets on Friday and Saturday, the majority of the weekend's participants at the Kit Mayer Classic hosted by  Colorado School of Mines while a small group heads to West Texas A&M for its Jo Meaker Classic.

Several Mountaineers competing at the Kit Mayer have marks within the top 10 of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference performance lists, led by Sammie Bretz in the women's high jump.

Bretz, the 14th-place finisher in the event at the NCAA Division II indoor championship meet, is atop the RMAC list with a best height of 1.67 meters (5 feet-5.75 inches). Teammate Nykole Meshew will try to better her height of 1.62m (5-3.75), third in the RMAC, at the meet.

On the men's side of the high jump, Torrin Franklin will be at the Kit Mayer, trying to move up the RMAC list from ninth, with his best jump sitting at 1.83m (6-0).

In another of the vertical jumps, the pole vault, Western will put Robert Letsche on the runway. His best jump of 4.50m (14-9) ranks ninth on the RMAC performance list in the event.

Emma Alford is fourth in the RMAC in the women's triple jump (11.47m, 37-7.75), while Tarryn Moore ranks sixth in the men's long jump (6.85m, 22-5.75). Both will look to improve upon those jumps at the Kit Mayer.

The Mountaineers have several throwers in the RMAC's top 10 within their respective events.

Rylee Blanton's best effort of 51.56m (169-2) in the women's hammer throw is fifth best in the RMAC, with Logan Butterfield's hammer toss of 56.36m (184-11) is fifth in the men's listing.

In the discus circle, Katrina Trahan has a season best of 43.05m (141-3) to rank fifth in the RMAC on the women's top-10 list and Jacob Doyle ranks ninth on the men's list with a best mark of 44.75m (146-10).

The contingent heading to Texas is comprised mostly of Western's sprint group.

Highlighting the Mountaineer participants at the Meaker Classic are Gabi Huggins, Nellie Wartanian and James Duncan.

Wartanian is sixth in the RMAC with a season best time of 12.06 seconds in the women's 100m dash, with Huggins close behind in the rankings at No. 9 with a time of 12.19.

Huggins will also compete in the women's long jump, in which her best leap of 5.65m (18-6.5) is sixth longest in the RMAC.

Duncan is highly ranked in the men's 110m hurdles, posting a season best of 14.76 seconds, which is fourth fastest in the RMAC.

Just outside of the top 10 on the RMAC's performance list are Will Stone and Duncan in the men's 400 hurdles, and Kelia Portis in the women's 100 hurdles.

Stone's time of 56.18 is 11th in the RMAC rankings while Duncan (56.90) is 13th, and Portis is 15th in her event with a season best of 16.06 seconds.

UP NEXT
Western is sending a group mostly consisting of its distance runners to California for a pair of meets. Some members of the group will compete in the Bryan Clay Invitational hosted by Azusa Pacific University on April 16-18, while the remainder of the distance group will participate eight miles to the east in the April 17-18 University of La Verne Leopard Invitational.