The men’s and women’s track team headed to Seattle this weekend to participate in their first Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) indoor conference meet. Because the Pac-12 doesn’t sponsor indoor track, the Buffaloes, along with many other members of the Pac-12, compete in the MPSF Championships.
Leading the charge for the Buffs was redshirt junior pentathlete Brianne Beemer. Throughout the five events Beemer accrued 3,771 points, a personal best, and good enough for third place. Sophomore Genny Mayden and junior Alyssa Frank also competed in the event, placing 13th and 16th, respectively.
On the men’s side, junior Joe Morris turned out two top 10 finishes. Morris ran the third fastest time in the preliminaries to qualify him for the final of the 60-meter dash. He finished in fourth place, with a time of 6.80 seconds. In the 200-meter dash, his 21.67 second time garnered him a sixth place finish.
Senior Richard Medina also finished at the top, running in the fast heat of the men’s 3k. His time of 7:53.02 missed the NCAA automatic qualifier by less than a second, but was good enough for a third place finish. Medina’s time makes him the second fastest Buff in school history at that distance. Also running in the race were sophomore Blake Theroux and junior Martin Medina, placing 17th and 26th.
Another scorer for the Buffs was junior Matt Biegner in the men’s mile. His time of 4:04.66 put him in sixth place. Not far behind was his teammate sophomore Hugh Dowdy running a big personal best of 4:06.57 in his first indoor conference meet as a Buffalo.
On the field, thrower Alex Kizirian stayed true to form. He threw the weight 60-10.5 inches, working his way into sixth place. His throw was also the eighth farthest throw in Colorado’s school history.
The last events to take place were the men’s and women’s 4×400 meter relays. The women’s team, consisting of Lindsy Mattson, Brianne Bemmer, Eileen Gehring and Bridget Sweeney, lit up the track running 3:45.11, a new school record, and good enough for sixth place. On the men’s side, the team made up of Kyle MacIntosh, Joe Morris, Blake Reimer and Shaw Gifford ran a time of 3:15.50, giving them a seventh place finish.
The MPSF Indoor Championships conclude the indoor season for most of the Colorado track team. Joe Morris and Richard Medina look to have a good chance of being selected for the NCAA Championships in Boise, Idaho on March 9 and 10. For the rest of the team, it’s back to work until March 13-14, where they will make their outdoor debut at Potts Field in Boulder.
Statistics courtesy of the University of Colorado Sports Information Department.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Ryan Sterner at Ryan.sterner@colorado.edu.
