Rams multis use Mines Winter Classic as opportunity to bounce back

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The Mines Winter Classic was a good meet from which Colorado State track and field multis coach Maria Creech, who took over the position on her own prior to this indoor season, could identify mistakes and fix them.

Some mistakes, mostly mental, were corrected almost immediately — especially those of Lizzy Heumann, who fake-smiled herself out of a hurdling trip-up early in the day and came back to record personal bests in her last two events.

Other mistakes, mainly physical and technical, are easily fixable according to Creech, who feels excited to get back to practice Monday to work to correct them.

Only seven Rams traveled to Golden to compete in the classic at Colorado School of Mines, all of whom were there to compete in the pentathlon or heptathlon.

For Creech's female athletes, who started and completed the pentathlon Friday, it was a day of resurgence as the season inches towards the Mountain West indoor championships.

Both Tatum Bailey and Heumann competed for CSU, while Rams freshman Rae Hicok was unattached. Respectively, they finished 14th, ninth and seventh (Bailey had no marks in the long jump and scratched from the 800-meter run).

While not exactly the day the pentathletes expected in terms of results, Creech still sees the day as a success.

"I have ideas of what I want them to hit, what they should hit and what they want to hit," Creech said. "There's definitely a level of intensity I need to see and I think that is what everybody did today. Even though we didn't hit the marks we wanted to hit, the focus was there and we executed."

Heumann's day started with a hiccup in the 60-meter hurdles, tripping on the first of five hurdles and throwing off her momentum and steps for the remainder of the race. But the way she responded impressed Creech the most.

She said she briefly comforted Heumann after the race, but took further action once Heumann was visibly upset during her favorite event — the high jump. Between attempts in the event, Creech told Heumann to find her right before she took her next approach and smile — no matter how fake or forced it was — to which Heumann obliged.

For the freshman, the moment supported her decision to compete under Creech. It also reminded her why she loves multis.

"Creech and I really clicked when I visited CSU," Heumann said. "I trust her, and even when I don't trust myself, I kind of lean into her. Between the hurdles and the high jump, it really solidified my idea of the multis and how you have to be able to move on from a bad event. When she told me to give her a fake smile, I was like 'that's why she's my coach,' because she understands what I need, even if it's something silly like that."

Immediately after the 60-meter hurdles, Heumann got back on track with the high jump, where she cleared 1.62 meters, but barely missed out on tying her personal best leap of 1.65 meters. Her mark was good enough to tie for second in the 14-competitor field, only behind Bailey, who like Heumann, cleared the mark (1.72 meters) just below her personal best, but failed to convert on a 1.75 meter attempt.

The pinnacle of Heumann's bounce-back was crushing her long jump personal record, topping her old 5.05 meters with a jump of 5.32 meters, nearly a foot of improvement,which usually is a huge margin of improvement in the discipline. Just an hour later, she improved her 800 meter personal best by half a second, finishing in 2:47.23.

"I had a really rough start, but I think bouncing back reminded me why I do all of this," Heumann said. "I was not expecting to PR in anything else after that, and it's really cool because even if you're not thinking about a PR, you can surprise yourself, and that's why I love track."

On the men's side, Elijah Scott, Mason Adams, Mateo Munoz and Cameron Collins completed four of their seven events for the men's heptathlon and will finish the competition Saturday.

Every single one set a PR in at least one event — Collins had three, including 7.34 seconds in the 60 meter dash, a 6.75 meter long jump and a shot put of 10.22 meters.

"The men had a great day," Creech said. "With this being my first multi, I went into it with the mindset of whatever happens, happens because I've never coached a multi from start to finish. So for me, being able to be a part of so many PRs and fantastic things is just the cherry on top. The fact I can be here and feel like I'm helping and making a difference is amazing."

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