COLORADO SPRINGS – In addition to the conclusion of the men's heptathlon, the Colorado School of Mines indoor track and field squads continued the 23rd annual Air Force Invitational Friday at the Cadet Field House in Colorado Springs.
The Orediggers qualified two individuals in the 60-meter dash and posted several respectable placements throughout the field events.
Sophomore Justin Gildemeister ran a season-best mark of 7.12 in the 60-meter prelims, slotting himself 16th headed into Saturday's finals, while classmate Michelle Rigsby claimed the final qualifying position, taking 16th – fifth among Division II runners – in a time of 8.33.
Freshman Kenneth Philpott finished in a three-way tie for second in the unseeded high jump with a season-best final height of 6-2.75 (1.90 meters).
In the women's unseeded 800-meter run, freshman Margarita Schvachko was the fastest Division II runner and fourth-fastest overall with the 16th-best time in the RMAC this season at 2:31.21.
Despite just missing NCAA Division II Provisional efforts in the field events Friday, senior Cody Walega and junior Ryan Ewen both added their names to the Mines record book for a second time.
Walega was only 0.03 meters shy of the required measure in the pole vault, matching his career-best and the school's No. 3 all-time mark of 15-1 (4.60 meters) for fifth place, while Ewen was just 0.05 meters away of a provisional result in the weight throw with a new career-best and the second farthest toss in program history of 55-9.75 (17.01 meters).
Senior Erin Beach recorded the second-farthest leap between Division II competitors and 11th overall in the long jump with a distance of 16-8.50 (5.09 meters) and classmate Matt Schroeder held on to 14th-place in the heptathlon after the final three events with a new career-high total of 4,225, the third-highest score in Mines lore.
The final day of competition begins at 10 a.m. tomorrow with the men's shot put, women's pole vault and men's high jump. The first running event - 60-meter hurdles semifinals - gets underway at noon.
Air Force Invitational Results (Friday)
Men's Heptathlon Final Results
