Results

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Jake Pinkston's national championship in the pole vault highlighted a tremendous performance by Colorado School of Mines on the third and final day of the NCAA Division II Track & Field Championships at Johnson C. Smith University.

Pinkston, a sophomore, etched his name in the Mines annals with the program's seventh national championship and first ever in a field event. He matched his program record clearance of 5.28m to win, kick-starting a day that saw Mines earn four podium spots overall. 

In the team standings, Oredigger men finished tied for 10th with 23 points while the women scored five points for 46th thanks to Gina Coleman's fourth-place showing in the discus.

Coming into the pole vault ranked #2 and #4 in the nation, Pinkston and Connor McLean both passed at the opening height, but McLean suffered an unlucky early exit at 4.98m leaving Pinkston in the field. He cleared 5.08m on his third attempt and 5.18m on his second, setting up just three competitors attempting 5.28m - Pinkston, Colorado Mesa's Nolan Ellis, and Grant Valley State's Jacob Battani. Pinkston cleared his second attempt and then watched as Ellis and Battani put up three X's, giving him the national title. He is Mines' first individual national champion since 2011, when Mack McLain won the indoor mile.

Coleman was also a star in the field as she reset her Mines discus record with a fourth-place 51.67m throw. Seeded ninth, Coleman worked her way into finals with a 49.46m first throw, then unloaded her best on her fifth attempt to wind up fourth. Coleman is Mines' second all-American in the women's discus, joining Savannah Afoa (2009). 

In his final race, Patrick Weaver also earned a fourth-place finish in the 800m but had to wait for it after successfully protesting a disqualification. Weaver ran 1:48.33 to reset the program record for the second time in the meet, and led out through 500m before a move by CSU-Pueblo's Thomas Staines gave him the title in an NCAA-record 1:46.56. Weaver was soon DQ'd for being out of his lane, but a successful protest by head coach Matt Sparks restored Weaver to the podium for his ninth career all-American honor, making him only the sixth Oredigger to reach that mark.

In the men's 400m hurdles, Triston Sisneros ran 51.57 for sixth place. That gave the junior his fourth career all-America honor but first outdoors and in the 400m hurdles, having earned three straight honors in the indoor heptathlon.

Molly Reicher ran 4:28.23 for ninth in a packed 1,500m field to earn second-team all-America honors. Reicher was also a cross country and indoor mile all-American this year, making her one of an elite few women in Mines history to be a three-season all-American.

Courtney Clark made her NCAA debut in the shot put to start the morning and finished 14th at 14.06m. Clark set her best on her first throw, and added tosses of 13.81m and 13.65m in her series.

In the men's 5K, Mines had three competitors in the field led by Grant Colligan, who finished 13th. Colligan, running his third race in three days after the steeplechase prelim and final, clocked 14:37.68, with Josh Hoskinson coing in at 15:02.76 in 17th and Matthew Kade, who also ran the 10K on Thursday, 19th in 15:06.52.