Rams’ women and men place second at 2018 MW Indoor Championships

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The Colorado State women's and men's track & field teams each finished second at the 2018 Mountain West Indoor Track & Field Championships after the third and final day of competition at the Albuquerque Convention Center.

The Colorado State women tallied 85 points en route to their second-place finish, while the CSU men scored 141 points for their runner-up finish. UNLV won the women's title with 99 points and Air Force took the men's crown with 206.5 points.

Highlighting individual performances on Saturday was that of CSU senior Mostafa Hassan, who unloaded a season-best throw of 67-8 (20.62m) to win the shot put by just under nine feet (Utah State's David Hirschmann – 58-9.25/17.91m). Hassan was one of three scorers in the men's shot put, along with Austin Blaho (third – 56-7.5/17.2m) and Alex Blaho (fourth - 56-2/17.12m).

Another headline performance for the Rams' men on Saturday was Cole Rockhold's 4:02.13 in the mile. The junior placed behind only reigning NCAA champion Josh Kerr, who led Saturday's race wire-to-wire. Rockhold's time ranks second in meet history behind only Kerr's, and converts to 3:56.85 when accounting for altitude. Joining Rockhold in the top five was Wayde Hall, who finished in 4:09.87, the No. 20 time in program history. In the women's mile, Ali Kallner ran the No. 8 time on CSU's all-time indoor list (4:52.55) to take seventh place. Roxy Trotter was the Rams' top 800 meters runner, clocking the No. 8 time on CSU's all-time indoor list (2:12.30) for fifth place.

In the hurdles, Colorado State had podium finishers on each of the men's and women's sides. Jalen Hunter placed second in the men's 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.04, followed by Garrett Lane (8.29) in fourth and Nick Kravec (8.42) in eighth. On the women's side, Destinee Rocker finished in third with a time of 8.37. Hunter was CSU's first podium finisher in the men's 60-meter hurdles since 2014, while Rocker was the Rams' highest finisher in her respective event since 2008.

The top event for the Rams in the jumps on Saturday was the men's triple. Three Rams scored, as Isa Bynum placed fourth (48-1.25/14.66m), Danny Baumgardt finished fifth (47-10.5/14.59m) and Dalten Fox came in seventh (46-42.5/14.13m). Bynum's mark is 16th on CSU's all-time indoor list, while Baumgardt's is 19th. In the men's high jump, Uche Obinnah scored for the Rams after clearing 6-8 (2.03m) for sixth place.

Among the top performers in the individual sprints for CSU on Saturday were quarter-milers Jasmine Chesson and Caleb Hardy. Chesson clocked a time of 55.32 in the women's 400 final on Saturday, placing fourth at the meet and moving up to No. 3 in the event on CSU's all-time indoor list. On the men's side, Hardy ran the No. 9 time on CSU's all-time indoor list (48.33) to finish in fifth. In the 4x400-meter relays, Colorado State placed second on the men's side (3:13.71 – Julian Dulaney, Ronald Sayles, Blake Yount and Hardy) and fourth in the women's race (Jessica Ozoude, Chesson, Annemarie Carlson, Michelle Gould).

In 60 meters competition, each of Marybeth Sant (sixth – 7.50), Ozoude (seventh – 7.60) and Lettia Wilson (eighth – 7.62) scored in the women's race, while Ayo Sanusi (7.10) placed eighth in the men's race. Sayles (seventh – 21.72) and Dulaney (eighth – 21.97) each scored in the men's 200 meters, and Ozoude accounted for the final points scored by CSU sprinters in individual events with a sixth-place finish and time of 24.33 in the women's 200.

The final individual events on the track were the men's and women's 3,000 meters, which featured four CSU scorers. Darby Gilfillan (9:42.88) placed seventh in the women's 3,000 and Maximilliano Martinez (8:25.38) placed sixth in the men's race, as each scored in their second distance event of the meet. Trent Powell (seventh – 8:25.68) and Luke Giugliano (eighth – 8:26.55) also scored in the men's 3,000.

Rounding out the top performers in field events for CSU were Maria Muzzio and Aliya Simpson, who placed sixth each in the shot put and pole vault, respectively. Muzzio's mark was 48-11.75 (14.93m) and Simpson's was 12-6.75 (3.83m), the No. 4 pole vault mark on CSU's all-time indoor list.

IN THEIR WORDS
Colorado State head coach Brian Bedard
On finishing runner-up on each of the women's and men's sides:
"I think that the effort from both teams was pretty good. I thought UNLV put together an exceptional meet and didn't make many mistakes, while we probably made a few. Air Force just really showed their depth. We didn't quite reach our potential in a few event areas and it cost us. We knew it was going to be close. We had to have an 'A' type of meet, and performance-wise I'd probably give us a 'B,' although we had 'A' effort. We had to be perfect or close to it. In the end, you have to score points and we just didn't score enough."

On Mostafa Hassan and Austin Blaho:
"When we came off Christmas break, Mostafa had gotten a little off track on some of his mechanics. So we've been hard at work on that, and I think this was a big step In the right direction. His consistency was good and he was coachable on every throw. I just thought his mentality throughout the competition was great. If we stay on track, it should set him up pretty well for the national meet. For Austin, he was a kid who threw 39 feet in his first meet as a freshman. To see him fight and scratch his way to get up on that podium after some years of hard work was a real success story for us."

Colorado State distance coach Art Siemers
On Cole Rockhold:
"He ran very smart. We knew New Mexico was going to set a fast pace, so the plan was for Cole to stay with Kerr for as long as he could. Kerr is obviously an indoor and outdoor champion and a star at the Division I level, so Cole's goal was to see how close he could get to him and see if he could make it a race. It was a really fun battle, and an outstanding race for Cole. He had a really good weekend."

NOTES
- Colorado State women's track & field has finished second or higher in each of its last four indoor conference meets.
- Colorado State men's track & field has finished second or higher in four of its last five indoor conference meets.
- Mostafa Hassan's shot put title was his third in as many indoor seasons and fifth overall (two outdoor). Only Leif Arrhenius of BYU had won as many of each.
- Hassan's performance (67-8/20.62m) currently ranks second in the NCAA and 16th in the world.

UP NEXT
Qualifying members of the Colorado State track & field team will compete at the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships on Friday, March 9 and Saturday, March 10. National qualifiers will be announced by the NCAA in the coming days.

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results