By: Tim Flynn
Results
PUEBLO, Colo. - Hunter Potrykus' new RMAC pole vault record highlighted Colorado School of Mines' day at two track & field meets along the Front Range.
At CSU Pueblo's Chuck Haering Classic, Potrykus cleared a national-leading 5.37m to set the conference and program outdoor records, edging out his own previous mark of 5.36m set at last year's Mines Mini-Meet. It is the second-best all-venues performance in RMAC history and ties him as the #22 all-time performer in NCAA Division II history and #1 so far this season.
Potrykus' performance led a day filled with personal bests for the Orediggers as they finished March with good weather in Pueblo and Fort Collins.
The Orediggers' women's hurdlers continued to establish season bests as
Avery Wright took third in 14.76,
Lisa Sutherland fifth in 15.08,
Andrea Walser sixth in 15.22, and
Aani Hardesty seventh in 15.23 in the 100m distance. The latter three times represented collegiate bests for Sutherland, Walser and Hardesty.
Allison Comer ran another strong 400m hurdle time of 1:02.43 to finish second, with Hardesty third in a personal-best 1:03.36 and Walser finishing ninth in 1:08.69.
Rhett Cullers ran a career-best 15.16 110m hurdle time for third, breaking him into the Mines top-10 at #10. Cullers later ran another PR of 56.42 for third in the 400m hurdles.
Among the Orediggers' sprinters,
Aryelle Wright was second in the women's 400m running 56.56, with
Grace Galvin fourth in 57.17.
Avery Wright ran a wind-aided 25.68 for fifth place in the women's 200m, ahead of Galvin in ninth with a 26.12,
Randi Higashi in 16th at 26.90, and Sutherland in 25th at 28.06, all under legal wind.
Garrett Halbrooks ran 11.11 for 13th in the men's 100m dash, and was 25th in a wind-aided 23.56 200m.
The women's 800m saw
Avary Catchings finish ninth in 2:16.43, her outdoor best that makes her the #10 all-time performer at Mines, with Higashi 12th in an all-venues personal best 2:19.02.
Tim Thompson placed fifth with a 1:55.80 800m time in the men's race. The women's 4x400 relay of Hardesty, Galvin, Higashi, and Comer finished third in 3:52.88, the Orediggers' third different lineup this outdoor season to land a program top-time time ranking #6.
In the field, Potrykus led a Mines sweep of the men's pole vault as Orediggers filled the top six spots.
Noah Kelly cleared a collegiate PR and NCAA-provisional 4.96m for second, with
Aidan Bennett over 4.81m for third,
Shane Conley fourth at 4.51m, and
Jackson Wray and
Kai Miller tied for fifth at the same height. A week after resetting her RMAC record,
Hannah Miller had another great outing clearing 4.15m to win the women's pole vault, with
Ava Kowalski and
Avery Herbold tied for second (3.78m),
Dale Thompson tied for fourth (3.63m), and
Madeline Obuchowski tied for sixth (3.33m).
It was a good Saturday for Oredigger triple jumpers as
Claire Kintzley hit a big PR to win the women's event at 11.71m, the #3 all-time performance at Mines.
Nicholas Nijkamp was the lone men's competitor and marked 13.22m.
Grant Redmond sprung over a season-best 2.10m for third in the men's high jump, while in the women's competition,
Lexye Wood made her season-best of 1.60m for fourth with
Avery Wright ninth at 1.55m, Sutherland 10th at 1.50m, and Kintzley 12th at the same height. Wood also hit a best attempt of 5.61m to place third in the long jump
Kitt Rupar, in her second different meet in as many days, threw 44.40m for second in the women's discus, and 12.80m for fourth in the shot put.
Brody Welch's 15.62m was good for fourth in the men's shot put, ahead of
Hayden Swim's seventh-place 14.61m,
Franklin Rambo's 12th-place 13.25m, and
Cade Whish's 17th-place 11.86m. In the hammer, Welch was 11th at 44.11m, a spot ahead of Swim (44.01m) with Whish 17th (34.10m). Rambo led the Orediggers in the discus with a 10th-place 41.20m toss, with Swim 13th (39.00m) and Whish 14th (37.73m).
FORT COLLINS, Colo. - At Colorado State's Jack Christiansen Invitational,
Everett Delate won the 110m hurdles in a time of 14.09 seconds. The NCAA-provisional time should slot in somewhere around #10 on the national D-II performance list as he ran his best time of the year to beat out an entirely Division I field. Delate was Mines' sole competitor at the meet on Saturday.
The Orediggers head to Grand Junction April 7 for the Maverick Invite & Multi.
