Rockhold breaks program record in 3,000 meters on day two of Husky Classic, Don Kirby Invitational

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SEATTLE, Wash./ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Junior Cole Rockhold of the Colorado State track & field team broke the program record in the 3,000 meters to give the Rams their second school record in as many days and highlight day two at the Husky Classic and Don Kirby Invitational. The Husky Classic was held from Dempsey Indoor, while the Don Kirby Invitational was held from the Albuquerque Convention Center.

Rockhold took down the CSU record in the 3,000 meters with a time of 7:50.10, which is over a nine-second personal best for the junior. Rockhold finished third at the Husky Classic, but only five NCAA athletes and 34 athletes in the world had a better time than Rockhold prior to Saturday. The Independence, Mo., native topped the previous record held by former CSU great Jefferson Abbey (7:51.38), and joins Grant Fischer (13:44.24 – 5,000 meters) as Rams to break school records this weekend.

Rounding out performances by CSU in the men's 3,000 were personal-best times of 8:05.02 by Carson Hume, 8:06.24 by Wayde Hall and 8:07.79 by Trent Powell. Hume's time ranks fifth on CSU's all-time indoor list, while Hall checks into the list at seventh and Powell's places eighth.

Colorado State's women were led in distance events by Dominique Ward, who ran a personal-best time of 4:47.73 to place ninth overall at the Husky Classic. Ali Kallner also recorded a personal-best mile time, finishing in 4:53.73, as did Emma Atwell, who clocked a 4:58.65. Ward's time ranks fifth on CSU's all-time indoor list, while Kallner's places 14th and Atwell's is 18th. Roxy Trotter was the third-fastest Ram in the mile on Saturday, finishing in 4:54.03.

Senior Darby Gilfillan was in action for the Rams' distance unit once again at the Husky Classic, running the 3,000 meters on Saturday. The Denver native placed 19th overall with a personal-best time of 9:41.91, moving up to ninth on CSU's all-time indoor list.

At the Don Kirby Invitational, senior Mostafa Hassan remained undefeated in the shot put this indoor season, winning the event with a mark of 64-3.25 (19.59m). The Cairo, Egypt native improved upon his previous mark of 64-2 (19.55m) at the Air Force Invitational earlier this season.

Highlighting events on the track at the Don Kirby Invitational was the performance of Destinee Rocker, who reached the finals of the 60-meter hurdles and ran a personal-best 8.29 to finish second overall at the meet. Rocker's time ranks third in program history, and is just .01 seconds shy of CSU's all-time No. 2 time (8.28 by Angie Polk).

IN THEIR WORDS
Colorado State head coach Brian Bedard
On the team's performance at the Don Kirby Invitational:
"Big performance by Destinee (Rocker) - she had some big-time competition today. She doesn't act like a freshman and to see her continue to respond is really exciting. Mostafa (Hassan) can have an off day and still be impressive, even though he's disappointed. He lined up one throw of the six and it went over 20 meters, but he couldn't stay in (the throwing ring) and he knew it. We've got some technical issues squared away but his timing on his finishes is still a little off. We've got some work to do, but he'll be fine."

Colorado State distance coach Art Siemers
On the team's performance at the Husky Classic:
"I'm really proud of the whole team. They know they only have one opportunity to come to seas-level and compete and just represent the university so well when they come out to these big meets. It makes you proud to watch how hard they compete and how much they give for the uniform. This is now four years in a row where we've come back from the Husky Classic with at least one school record. It's pretty special."

On Cole Rockhold's performance:
"Cole missed about four or five days of training a couple of weeks ago and we were thinking he might not event run at the meet (last week) at CU. He's just such a composed runner. He went to CU and got a likely qualifying mark in the mile, not even knowing he was going to run it until probably Thursday of that week. Then, in his first 3k of the year with some of the toughest competition in the country, he just moved up throughout the race and put himself in a position to win in the last turn. He and Grant (Fischer) came in here with goals of a school record and they both did it."

NOTES
- Prior to Saturday, Cole Rockhold ranked third in program history in the 3,000 meters. His previous best time was 7:59.89, which he recorded in a sixth-place finish at the 2017 NCAA Indoor Championships.
- Destinee Rocker registered a personal best for the second week in a row. Rocker ran a time of 8.37 at the Colorado Invitational last weekend.

UP NEXT
The Colorado State track & field team will compete in its final tune-up before conference weekend at the Rocky Mountain Classic in Laramie, Wyo. The Rams will compete at the Mountain West Indoor Track & Field Championships the week after from Feb. 22-24.

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