Colorado Christian met up with the rest of the RMAC track and field squads in Golden, CO, this weekend to compete in the 2018 RMAC Indoor Track and Field Championships. Both the men and women's Cougar teams had great showings, with highlight races on both Friday and Saturday. The men's team finished the meet in 10^th place with a total of 13 points, while the women also took 10^th place with five points.

The meet kicked off Friday with mostly multi-event and field competitions while running just a handful of races. Amongst those races were the men's and women's distance medley relays. If you are not familiar with the DMR as it is known, this is a very unique race that showcases four runners from each school running distances of 1,200 meters, 400 meters, 800 meters, and being capped off with 1,600 meters. Both teams improved on their season best times by over 20 seconds, and each won their heat. The men finished 6^th out of 11 teams in a time of 10:42.49, while the women just missed the podium coming in 4^th place out of 11 teams in a time of 12:46.69.

The only solo women to compete in the finals of their respective races were junior Mandee Middleton and senior Hannah Struttman, who both participated in the mile. Mandee crossed the line in 10^th place in a time of 5:22.74 followed by Hannah in 13^th place in a time of 5:29.50.

The only solo male's to reach a final heat on Saturday were freshman Micah Conley in the 800 meter race and Evan Verbal in the 3,000 meter run. Micah ran well in his first RMAC track and field championship race, finishing in 14^th place in a time of 2:00.13.

Even though Evan had qualified for both the mile and the 3,000 meter races, he chose to focus on just one race for the championship meet rather than go for both on the same day. It ended up being the right choice, as Verbal won the 3,000 meter race in a time of 8:28.73, edging out the second place finisher by a mere .09 seconds.

Verbal will travel Pittsburg, Kansas, with head coach Jon Poag the weekend of March 9^th and 10^th where he will take part in the NCAA Division II Indoor National Championships. He is qualified to race in the mile and the 3,000 meter races.