Three days of spectacular competition on Chadron State College’s spectacular new track and field ended late Sunday after the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference had staged its annual springtime extravaganza in Nebraska for the first time. More than 500 athletes from 13 colleges and universities participated.
While the Eagles were without several of their standouts because of injuries much of the season, almost without exception Coach Seth Mischke’s athletes who had qualified for the championships had their best marks during the weekend and were competitive.
Seven Chadron State individuals and three relay teams earned points Sunday. In the men’s competition, Creighton Trembly was the silver medalist in the 110 hurdles for the second year in a row and Logan Peila was fourth in the 400 hurdles.
In addition, Hector Ortega tied for third in the high jump by clearing 6-foot, 6 ¾ inches and the CSC men finished fifth in both the 4×100 and 4×400 relays. Logan Moravec also placed in the 800 meters.
The Eagles’ Shane Collins helped open the meet by winning the men’s hammer throw for the second year in a row.
In the women’s action Sunday, Kyla Sawvell used her last throw in the shot put to move into third place, meaning that she had become a medalist in each of the throws. She won the gold in the hammer throw on Friday, took the silver in the discus on Saturday and claimed the bronze in the shot. Now a 12-time RMAC champion, she posted her best mark of the season in each of her events during the conference meet.
The CSC women also finished fourth in the 4×100 relay and freshman Megan Baloun placed in the triple jump Sunday.
The CSC men finished seventh with 49.5 points and the women were ninth with 37 in the team standings. The University of Colorado at Colorado Springs won both of the team titles for the fourth consecutive year.
Four double winners shared the Men’s Athlete of the Meet honors. Justice Mendoza of UCCS sped to victory in the 100- and 200-meter dashes, Reece Sharman-Newell of CSU-Pueblo won both the 800 and 1500 races, Everett Delate of Colorado Mines swept the hurdles and Ismael Debele of Western Colorado took both the long and triple jumps.
The women’s outstanding athlete award went to Audrey Bloomquist of Colorado-Colorado Springs after she won both the long and triple jumps and was the runner-up in the 100 meters.
Three RMAC Championships women’s records were broken—two of them more than once.
The first four finishers in the 800 meters all crossed the finish line under the old mark 2:09.08, but the record now belongs to Helen Braybrook CSU-Pueblo, whose winning time was 2:06.34.
The former 5000-meter record was 17:03.86, but both Katie Doucette of Western Colorado and Zoe Baker of Colorado Mines finished the race about 34 seconds faster than that and less than a second apart. Doucette’s new record is 16:28.45.
The third new standard was set by the Colorado Mines 4×400 relay team whose winning time was 3:44.62. That’s 1.53 seconds faster than the old record, which was set by the Orediggers last year. Amena Olson and Aryelle Wright were members of both quartets.
CSC’s placings during the championships:
Women’s Events
200—6, Carlie Collier, 25.38 (24.97 prelims).
4×100 relay—4, Chadron State (Caydince Groth, Carlie Collier, Danae Rader, Shantae Morgan), 48.93.
Hammer throw—1, Kyla Sawvell, 187-11; 8, Courtney Smith, 154-3.
Discus—2, Kyla Sawvell, 145-1.
Shot put—3, Kyla Sawvell, 47-10.
Triple jump—8, Megan Baloun, 36-1 ½.
High jump—6, Destiny Pelton, 5-1 ¼.
Men’s Events
800 meters—8, Logan Moravec, 1:58.42 (1:54.58 prelims).
110 hurdles—2, Creighton Trembly, 14.37 (14.22 prelims).
400 hurdles—4, Logan Peila, 54.88.
4×100 relay—5, Chadron State (Emory Yoosook, Creighton Trembly, Cole Perkins, Kadin Perez), 42.18.
4×400 relay—5, Chadron State (Logan Peila, Kyland Fuller, Harley Rhoades, Greg Logsdon), 3:19.23.
Hammer throw—1, Shane Collins, 197-10.
Discus—5, Parker Gonser, 157-9.
High jump—3-4 tie, Hector Ortega, 6-6 ¼.
Decathlon—4, Harley Rhoades, 6,261 points; 7, Kaden Dower, 5,386.
Women’s Team Scores—1, Colorado-Colorado Springs, 130.5; 2, Western Colorado, 123; 3, Colorado Mines, 109.5; 4, Colorado Mesa, 102; 5, Colorado State-Pueblo, 74; 6, Westminster, 51; 7, New Mexico Highlands, 49; 8, Metro State, 40; 9, Chadron State, 37; 10, Adams State, 28; 11, Black Hills State, 27; 12, South Dakota Mines, 21; 13, Fort Lewis, 15, 14, Colorado Christian, 10.
Men’s Team Scores—1, Colorado-Colorado Springs, 180; 2, Colorado Mesa, 125.5; 3, Colorado State-Pueblo, 111.50; 4, Colorado Mines, 111; 5, Western Colorado, 106.5; 6, Adams State, 55; 7, Chadron State, 49.5; 8, South Dakota Mines, 23; 9, Metro State, 22; 10, Black Hills State, 18; 11, Colorado Christian, 10; 12, Fort Lewis, 3; 13, Westminster, 1.