PUEBLO, CO – An historic weekend for the Colorado Christian men's and women's track/field program.
At the RMAC Championships Friday, Saturday and Sunday hosted by CSU Pueblo, the Cougars stood on the podium more than any previous year while posting the school's first ever top 10 finish at the league's championships event.
MEN'S HIGHLIGHTS
With two first places, a second place finish while sending three other individuals to a podium finish gave the Cougars a school best ever seventh place finish. Colorado Christian put together a 48-point performance and, in the process, topped No. 21 CSU Pueblo.
Sprints
Tyler Bradley put together his best ever effort in the 200 meter race. After qualifying in the preliminary round with the fifth best time, the sophomore cruised around half of the track in 21.15 to place second and earn NCAA provisional qualification. Bradley's time also lowered his school record by 0.29 seconds.
In the 100 meter dash the South Dakota native earned qualification into the final with the sixth best time (10.70) before crossing the finish line in sixth place in the finals with a time of 10.67.
Distance
The meet was highlighted during the 5000 meter race where Josh Pierantoni (14:50.00) took first place while teammates Ryder Searle and Trent Cochran finished third and fourth respectively. The trio scored 21 team points with those performances. Pierantoni and Searle were the lead pack until Pierantoni sprinted ahead in the final 400 meters to earn the individual title with Searle (14:51.92) finishing just .42 seconds from the runner-up spot. Cochran's 15:06.80 effort was good enough for his best ever RMAC championship event placing.
In just the second time running the event, Alex Vance placed third in the 3000 meter steeplechase as the freshman crossed the finish line in 9:16.53. He is the first freshman to place in the top three in the event at the RMAC Championships since 2018.
Field Events
All season Jaxon Hinch was knocking on the door of a top finish during his four regular season events. On Sunday he grabbed that first place finish. He became the first Colorado Christian competitor ever to win a field event as he cleared the bar at 2.06 meters (6 feet, 9 inches). The clearance is an NCAA provisional qualifying mark and is his season best effort.
WOMEN'S HIGHLIGHTS
A podium finish from Shannon King highlighted the efforts from the women as the Cougars scored 12 team points to place 13th at the event. The future of the program was shown as three of the four scoring competitors were freshmen.
Distance
King finished third in the steeplechase as the freshman crossed the finish line in 11:23.96 to capture six team points for the program. In just her second time competing in the event, the Arvada native held steady in her position throughout the race as she earned an all-conference spot. Also in the race Christy Shuster nabbed a pair of team points as she crossed the finish line in seventh place with a time of 11:56.10 in her second ever effort in the event.
The duo also factored in the equation in the 1500 meter race as King placed seventh with a time of 4:45.73 while Shuster (4:47.26) finished just one spot from grabbing team points with a ninth place finish.
Colorado Christian also earned a team point from freshman Paige Tack who ran the 1500 meter race in 18:54.57 for an eighth place finish.
Sprints
Michelle Kuipers registered an eight place finish in the 800 meter race as the freshman clocked a time of 2:18.89 to tally a team point for the squad.
QUOTEABLE:
Overall Effort - "This was a breakout day on many levels. Hats off to our sprints and jumps, they made a huge impact on the meet today, Tyler and Jaxon are both performing at a National level and they certainly proved that today. Distance and mid distance was strong throughout the weekend and showed the can compete and win in the best DII conference in the country. Proud of the way our athletes competed and represented CCU," said head coach Jon Poag.
Hinch High Jump Effort - "Jaxon proved from his very first outing this season that he's a talented jumper. More than that He's demonstrated an exceptional desire to be a student of the event, when you combine that talent with the ability to prepare you get a championship performance like Jaxon had today. To be the best jumper today, in the less than ideal wind conditions, Jaxon had to be the toughest guy out there and I think he left no doubt that's what he was today," said jumps/sprint coach Laura Patrick.
UP NEXT: The Cougars will send a handful of competitors to Air Force on Friday as they look to improve their chances for NCAA Championship qualification efforts.
