Mountain West Outdoor Track & Field Championships Preview: Rams Aim for Sweep

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Expectations are high for Colorado State ahead of the 22^nd running of the Mountain West Outdoor Track and Field Championships, starting Wednesday, May 11^th and concluding with two trophies raised on Saturday, May 14^th at Veteran's Memorial Stadium in Clovis, Calif.

Those expectations aren't from outside forces, but rather the established culture that has the Rams ready to flip the switch. In the past 12 conference meets – indoor and outdoor – the Rams have six of the titles and equally between the men and women. The closest other conference institutions are Air Force and San Diego State with three apiece.

The women head into this week's conference meet defending their recent indoor championship from February, while trying to obtain their fifth overall MW outdoor title (2008, 2015, 2016, 2019). A CSU women's title would secure the MW sweep for 2022, matching the 2016 and 2019 years. Although the CSU men finished runner-up this past indoor conference meet, the Rams are the two-time defending MW outdoor champs. A CSU men's title would mean four of the past five outdoor trophies have found their way back to the Glenn Morris Field House.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Mountain West has not hosted an indoor and outdoor championship in the same year since 2019 when Colorado State men and women swept the field. Colorado State can't replicate the feat, but 3-for-4 is possible. The men's top competition is Air Force who won the indoor title by a margin that came down to the final two events. The other top women's programs in contention are San Diego State and New Mexico, which were the second and third placers in February. However, the Aztecs are the defending outdoor champs.

After last year's three-day schedule, the Mountain West returned to the usual four-day schedule, benefiting mostly the multis, but also bettering the flow of the traffic on the track as well. The multis – men's decathlon and women's heptathlon – commence the championship on Wednesday with the women starting at 4:30 p.m. MT and the men at 5 p.m. MT. The heptathlon's final three events will go to completion on Thursday, starting at 5 p.m. MT, while the last half of the decathlon begins thirty minutes later. Later under the lights, the women and men's 10,000-meter will run back-to-back at 10:30 p.m. MT and 11:10 p.m. MT, respectively.

Friday's field events commence at 3 pm MT, while the gun for the running events doesn't fire until 6 p.m. MT and consists of mostly qualifying rounds except for the 3,000-meter steeplechase races to cap the night. Championship Saturday starts at 3 p.m. MT for the field events with the finals of the track races at 6:15 MT. The 4x400-meter relays – the signature finale event – is scheduled for 9:55 p.m. MT.

How to Tune In
Live Results - https://csura.ms/3w2qI1e
Mountain West Network – TheMW.com/watch
*The Mountain West Network will be offering five camera streams throughout the championships. The Mountain West App is available on Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire, Android TV and both Apple and Android phones.
Mountain West Track and Field Championship Headquarters - https://csura.ms/3w1HqOl

Hosted by Fresno State
Veteran's Memorial Stadium
1560 N Minnewawa Ave
Clovis, CA 93619

Championship Rosters
MEN
Germain Barnes, Ryan Birkmeier, Mason Brown, Jacob Brueckman, Allam Bushara, Isa Bynum, Jack Cauble, Adam Dawson, Andrew Doctor, John Fulton, Mauricio Galindo Vega, Eldridge Harris, Mariano Kis, Dawson LaRance, Liam Mather, Jackson Morris, Tanner Norman, Tom Oates, Cameron Ross, Elijah Scott, Adam Stark, Kelley Stephens, Drew Thompson, Tom Willems, Avery Lux, Dawson Besst, Thomas Chaston, Max Christenberry

WOMEN
Tayla Brunger, Tarynn Sieg (Bown), Claudia Burgess, Sarah Carter, Emily Chaston, Tameryn Coryell, Jahzara Davis, Lauren Gale, Grace Goldsworthy, Michaela Hawkins, Ashlyn Hillyard, Janyah Jasper, Yolonda Johnson, Lexie Keller, Elizabeth Lydon, Gabi McDonald, Megan Mooney, Lauren Neugeboren, Lauren Offerman, Jessica Ozoude, Anna Petr, Kylie Poole, Annabel Stafford, Celyn Stermer, Morgan Stewart, Lily Tomasula-Martin, Makayla Williams

Top Ram Seedings (No. 1-3)
WOMEN
The Rams are favored to win five events and have 14 top-3 finishes

100 Meter: Jasper (No. 1)
200 Meter: Gale (No. 1)
400 Meter: Gale (No. 1)
5000m: Offerman (No. 3)
10000m: Stafford (No. 2), Carter (No. 3)
400mH: Johnson (No. 1)
3000mS: Chaston (No. 2)
4x100m: Brunger, Gale, Williams, Jasper (No. 2)
4x400m: Johnson, Goldsworthy, Ozoude, Gale (No. 2)
Discus: McDonald (No. 2), Hawkins (No. 3)
Hammer: Sieg-Bown (No. 3)
Heptathlon: Keller (No. 1)

MEN
The Rams are favored to win seven events and have 20 top-3 finishes

100m: Stephens (No. 1), Cauble (No. 2)
200m: Stephens (No. 3)
400m: Willems (No. 3)
800m: Birkmeier (No. 1)
1500m: Brueckman (No. 1)
110mH: Doctor (No. 1)
3000mS: Besst (No. 2), Chaston (No. 3)
4x100m: Stark, Stephens, Cauble, Mather (No. 2)
4x400m: Stark, Fulton, Cauble, Willems (No. 2)
Pole Vault: Harris (No. 2)
Triple Jump: Bushara (No. 2)
Shot Put: Kis (No. 1), Morris (No. 3)
Discus: Dawson (No. 1), Morris (No. 2)
Hammer: Lux (No. 3)
Decathlon: Galindo Vega (No. 1), Thompson (No. 3)

What to Watch For?

Hurdling Rams: The Rams have swept each of the past two short hurdle conference races (2021, 110mH; 2022, 60mH). Another sweep would be MW's first-ever three in a row for the short hurdle races. Last outdoor, Doctor won with Mather and Kamal-Craig Golaube in tow. This past February at MW indoor, Barnes won with Golaube and Doctor in tow. The three Rams in contention this week are Barnes, Mather and Doctor with the latter owning the top seed.
Ram Favorites in Multis: Lexie Keller, a 2022 indoor All-American in the pentathlon, is the top seed for MW's heptathlon. She garnered CSU's record in the event at the Jim Click Shootout with a score of 5803, which is third all-time in MW history. The favorite in the men's decathlon is CSU's Mauricio Galindo Vega with a score of 7127 – also obtained at Jim Click – good for ninth in Ram history. Keller is the lone Ram since Jordan Lanning missed the trip due to injury, while Galindo Vega is joined by fellow sophomore Drew Thompson, the No. 3 seed, and true freshman Elijah Scott who is the No. 7 seed. Keller has reached the podium the last three conference meets (2020 indoor 3^rd, 2021 outdoor 3^rd, 2022 indoor 2^nd).
200 Rams: Lauren Gale won her first 200 conference title this past MW indoor meet. She enters the outdoor conference meet as the favorite and looks to join teammate Jessica Ozoude (2019) as CSU's only 200 outdoor winners. On the men's side, Kelley Stephens is CSU's top runner with the No. 3 seed, but Willems owns the eighth seed after finishing runner-up in the indoor version.
400 Rams: Lauren Gale is 5-for-5 in winning the 400m at conference meets – a feat never done before in the MW. She swept indoor and outdoor as a freshman in 2019 and then she won indoor in 2020 and outdoor in 2021. If she wins on Saturday, she'll become the only three-time outdoor winner in MW women's history. On the men's side, Willems has the No. 3 seed to defend his indoor title. If he is able to do so, he'll join Drew Morano as the only Rams to sweep MW's 400s in a year. Gale owns CSU's 400 record, while Willems ranks fourth.
Gale Super Sweep: If Lauren Gale wins the 200 and 400 like she did in the indoor conference championship, she'll join Wyoming's Jessica Fox (2005) as the only student-athletes that have won all four MW 400 titles in a single year.
800 Boys: The difference between the No. 1 seed, CSU's Birkmeier, and the No. 8 seed is just 2.16 seconds. LaRance, the 2021 winner, and Ross carry the No. 4 and No. 6 seeds, respectively.
Distance Women vs. New Mexico: The Lobos send out the top three runners in the 1500 and the top two in the 5000. The Rams contain four of the following six seeds in the 1500 and six of the following seven seeds in the 5000, aiming to put pressure on the Lobos. Lauren Offerman, the CSU record holder in both races, leads the Rams with the No. 4 and No. 3 seeds in those races, respectively. Similarly, New Mexico's Emma Heckel is the favorite in the 10K, but three Rams occupy seeds two through four, led by school record holder Annabel Stafford.
Steeplechasers: One obvious outdoor-only track event is the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Both the men and women's side for CSU has a strong field to score. Dawson Besst and Thomas Chaston hold the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds, respectively for the men and if they finish in the top three then it would be just the third time that two Rams have been on the podium. Thomas' sister, Emily, enters with the No. 2 seed with dark horse Kylie Poole at No. 9.
ThrowingU vs. the Field: Gabi McDonald won 4-of-6 shot puts she competed in this outdoor season, while also winning three discus events including a PR in the latter just two weeks ago at the Fresno Invitational that is ninth in school history. Tarynn Sieg (Bown) has competed exclusively in the hammer this outdoor season, winning three of four events. McDonald is aiming to defend her indoor shot put title, while Sieg (Bown) owns four total MW titles. On the men's side, shot put top-seeder Mariano Kis has four shot put wins out of seven tries including the 11th-best throw in school history, which was two weeks ago at the Fresno Invitational. Two-time discus All-American Adam Dawson is the favorite in the event, trying to get his second title, which he got in 2019. Jackson Morris is the No. 2 seed behind Dawson and the No. 3 seed in the shot put where he was runner-up to his teammate at MW indoors. Hammer specialist Avery Lux looks to get on the podium as he finished fourth in 2021.
4x100m Relays: Both the men and women teams are No. 2 going into the race.
4x400m Relays: Both the men and women set school records at the Fresno State Invitational just two weeks ago. Both enter the MW meet as No. 2 seeds. The men's team replace injured DeVon Washington on the record team with John Fulton, while the women is the same.
Collective Relays: Colorado State reached the podium in all four relays (Men & Women, 4x4 & DMR) at the indoor championships in February. No other school did so. If CSU reaches the podium all four times again then the Rams will join BYU (2001, 2002) as the only other school in MW history to go 8 for 8 in the championship relays in one year.

What will be different from the 2022 MW Indoor Championships?
It has been 74 days since the final day of the 2022 Mountain West Indoor Championship that saw the CSU women hoist the team trophy and the Air Force Falcons take the men's title. The CSU men battled to last few events but came up short with 171 points to Air Force's 180. Meanwhile, the CSU women ran away from the competition with 151 points, while second place San Diego State had 112.50.
MEN

From that team, 141 of the 155 points or 90.9% return (Not counting relays).
The main subtraction is out-of-eligibility Kamal Craig-Golaube (8 pts) who placed second in the 60mH. Not necessarily additions, but the short sprinters of Kelley Stephens and John Fulton will be factors as both were not 100% healthy for the indoor meet.
All four individual champions return: Willems (400), Barnes (60mH), Bushara (TJ), Kis (SP). The men's championship 4x400m relay team (Stark, Barnes, Washington, Willems) will look a little different with Fulton and Cauble replacing Barnes and Washington.
Other Returning All-MW (1^st-3^rd): Willems (200), Stark (400), Ross (800), LaRance (800), Doctor (60mH), Harris (PV), Jackson Morris (SP), Kis (WT)
True Freshman appearances that return: Cauble (200m, 8^th; 60m, 10^th), Scott (Hept, 7^th)

WOMEN

From that team, 118 of the 135 points or 87.4% return (Not counting relays).
The main subtractions are injured Bailee Carr (4 pts) and Jordan Lanning (13 pts).
All two individual champions return: Gale (200, 400), McDonald (SP).
Other Returning All-MW (1^st-3^rd): Jasper (60), Mooney (Mile), Petr (Mile), Stermer (PV), Sieg-Bown (SP), Sieg-Bown (WT), Keller (Pent)
True Freshman appearances that return: Davis (60mH, 8^th; LJ, 17^th)

A Look Back at last year's conference meet – the 2021 MW Championships
After COVID-19 robbed the 2020 spring collegiate athletic season from us, the Mountain West Outdoor Championships returned in 2021. The CSU men defended their 2019 crown, while the CSU women finished second (145.5 pts) behind champion San Diego State (161 pts). For a full breakdown, check out the
MEN

From the 2021 MW Outdoor Championship Team, 130.5 of the 196 points or 66.6% return (Not counting relays).
The main subtractions include the MW Men's Performer of the Meet Eric Hamer (20 pts), Kamal Craig-Golaube (11 pts) and Beau Gordon (13 pts)
Four of the six individual champions return: LaRance (800), Doctor (110mH), Bynum (LJ), Kis (SP).
Other Returning All-MW (1^st-3^rd): Willems (200 & 400), Mather (110mH), Brueckman (1500), Bushara (TJ), Dawson (DT).
True Freshman appearance: Harris (PV, 4^th)

WOMEN

From the 2021 MW Outdoor Championship Team, 86 points return out of the 137.5 scored or 62.5%. (Not counting relays).
The main subtractions include graduating seniors Maria Muzzio (16 pts), Haley Showalter (12 pts) and currently injured Jordan Lanning (12.5 pts)
Two of the three individual champions return: Gale (400) and Sieg (SP).
Other returning All-MW (1^st-3^rd): McDonald (2^nd in SP & 3^rd in DT), Sieg (3^rd in HT), Keller (3^rd in Hept.).
Notable true freshmen appearances that return: Jasper (5^th in 100 & 13^th in 200), Goldsworthy (9^th in 400).

Who Remains from the CSU Sweep of the 2019 MW Outdoor Champions?
In 2019, the Ram men and women won the conference outdoor titles, obtaining their second sweep ever (2015).
MEN

Brueckman (10^th, 1500m), Doctor (4^th, 110mH), Bynum (2^nd, 4x100m; 2^nd, LJ; 3^rd, TJ), Morris (3^rd, SP; 3^rd, DT; 3^rd, JT), Barnes (7^th, 110mH; 1^st, 400mH; 2^nd, 4x400m), Dawson (1^st, DT)

WOMEN

Ozoude (3^rd, 100m; 1^st, 200m; 1^st, 4x100m), Gale (1^st, 400m; 1^st, 4x100m; 3^rd, 4x400m), Tomasula-Martin (9^th, 10000m), Keller (8^th, HJ; 24^th, LJ), Sieg (4^th, SP; 7^th, DT; 3^rd, JT).

The Most Veteran
Went down a rabbit hole here. Who's competing this weekend that also competed four years ago in the 2018 MW outdoor meet? The CSU women finished third, while the men were second in the team standings.
MEN

Bynum (2^nd in LJ & 5^th in TJ)

WOMEN

Ozoude (4^th, 200m; 3rd in 4x100m; 3^rd in 4x400m)

USTFCCCA Rankings & Competition
For the USTFCCCA conference ratings index, the CSU women are second with 978.24, trailing San Diego State (1,042.11) and in front of New Mexico (784.21). The Aztecs won the 2021 MW outdoor meet with CSU taking second. The men are second in the TFRI with 1,441.50 behind Air Force (1,647.74) and in front of Utah State (738.03).

NCAA Indoor Performance List Top-50 (Colorado State)
On the NCAA Outdoor West Performance List, the Rams have 33 total marks in the top 50 between the women and men. Looking ahead to the NCAA regionals, the top 48 competitors from each of the two regions – NCAA East and NCAA West – will meet in their respected regions. The competition will battle to place within the top 12 and earn a berth to the NCAA Championships on June 8-11 in Eugene, Ore. One exception is the multis (heptathlon/decathlon) as the nation's top 24 will skip the regional meet and earn a bid to the NCAAs. Colorado State student-athletes will compete at the NCAA West region, which will be in Fayetteville, Ark., from May 25^th-28^th.

Women
31st; 100 meters, Janyah Jasper
18th; 200 meters, Lauren Gale
9th; 400 meters, Lauren Gale
35th; 400 meters, Jessica Ozoude
20th; 5000m, Lauren Offerman
30th; 5000m, Annabel Stafford
32nd; 5000m, Ashlyn Hillyard
44th; 5000m, Sarah Carter
11th; 10000m, Annabel Stafford
19th; 10000m, Sarah Carter
35th; 10000m, Lily Tomasula-Martin
20th; 400mH, Yolonda Johnson
23rd; 3000m Steeplechase, Emily Chaston
23rd; 4x100m Relay (Jessica Ozoude, Lauren Gale, Makayla Williams, Janyah Jasper)
28th; 4x400m Relay (Yolonda Johnson, Grace Goldsworthy, Makayla Williams, Jessica Ozoude)
35th; Pole Vault, Celyn Stermer
38th; Shot Put, Gabi McDonald
15th; Discus, Gabi McDonald
21st; Discus, Michaela Hawkins
25th; Hammer, Tarynn Sieg (Bown)
6th in NCAA; Heptathlon, Lexie Keller

Men
33rd; 800m, Ryan Birkmeier
16th; 1500m, Jacob Brueckman
33rd; 110m Hurdles, Andrew Doctor
21st; 3000m Steeplechase, Dawson Besst
25th; 3000m Steeplechase, Thomas Chaston
44th; 4x400m Relay (Adam Stark, DeVon Washington, Jack Cauble, Tom Willems)
41st; Pole Vault, Eldridge Harris
37th; Triple Jump, Allam Bushara
45th; Shot Put, Mariano Kis
20th; Discus, Adam Dawson
32nd; Discus, Jackson Morris
41st in NCAA; Decathlon, Mauricio Galindo Vega

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Mountain West Outdoor Track & Field Championships Preview: Rams Aim for Sweep

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Players Mentioned

Germain Barnes

Dawson Besst

Ryan Birkmeier

Mason Brown

Jacob Brueckman

Tayla Brunger

Claudia Burgess

Allam Bushara

Isa Bynum

Bailee Carr

Sarah Carter

Jack Cauble

Emily Chaston

Thomas Chaston

Max Christenberry

Tameryn Coryell

Jahzara Davis

Adam Dawson

Andrew Doctor

John Fulton

Lauren Gale

Mauricio Galindo Vega

Kamal-Craig Golaube

Grace Goldsworthy

Beau Gordon

Eric Hamer

Eldridge Harris

Michaela Hawkins

Ashlyn Hillyard

Janyah Jasper

Yolonda Johnson

Lexie Keller

Mariano Kis

Jordan Lanning

Dawson LaRance

Avery Lux

Elizabeth Lydon

Liam Mather

Megan Mooney

Gabi Morris

Jackson Morris

Maria Muzzio

Lauren Neugeboren

Tanner Norman

Tom Oates

Lauren Offerman

Jessica Ozoude

Anna Petr

Kylie Poole

Cameron Ross

Elijah Scott

Haley Showalter

Tarynn Sieg

Annabel Stafford

Adam Stark

Kelley Stephens

Celyn Stermer

Morgan Stewart

Drew Thompson

Lily Tomasula-Martin

DeVon Washington

Tom Willems

Makayla Williams

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