VIRIGINA BEACH, Va. – The Adams State University Grizzly men's and women's track and field teams opened the 2023 NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships held at the Virginia Beach Sports Center in grand style on Friday as they rode several second place finishes to a tie for the lead on the women's side and a second place sitting on the men's side after a combined ten events.
The first final on the track, the women's 5,000-meter race, was a tactical one for junior
Brianna Robles as the defending champion in the event, in both indoors and outdoors, sat on the lead runner early in the 25-lap race before she Lindsay Cunningham of Winona State came out and won the race by 15:41.30, a 19-second meet record. Robles finished second for eight team points with a time of 15:51.26.
Also racing and earning team points was sophomore
Precious Robinson, who finished in sixth place for four points with a time of 16:26.27. Sophomore
Emily Schoellkopf finished in eighth place, for some team points with a personal best time of 16:33.25.
On the men's side, junior
Awet Beraki finished in second place in the 5,000m as he posted a time of 13:57.58. Senior
Clement Duigou earned two team points by finishing in seventh place with a time of 14:10.31. Senior
Mitchell Dervin finished in 11th place with a time of 14:17.40.
The team of junior
Stephanie Cotter,
Jessica Simon,
Nicole Lawrence and
Ava O'Connor finished second in the Distance Medley Relay behind Grand Valley State. The Grizzlies finished in 11:16.28.
The men's team of Mikah Paiz,
Chad Jackson,
Cameron Allan and
David Cardenas finished ninth in 9:52.32.
Papay Glaywulu opened the day and passed on his first jump before he fouled on his next two and didn't post a mark in the men's long jump finals.
In the mile prelims, freshman
Maggie McCleskey posted a personal best time of 4:47.94, the fourth fastest time in the event to secure a spot in Saturday's final. Junior
Stephanie Cotter will join her in the finals as her time of 4:49.57 was eighth fastest.
Sophomore
Morgan Hykes finished in 12th in the race with a time of 4:49.93.
On the men's side, the Grizzlies two racers advanced to the finals as senior
Miguel Coca clocked the fastest time in the prelims with a time of 4:07.38 while senior
Davonte Jett-Reynolds also qualified with a 4:08.13, good for the sixth fastest time. Both times by the Grizzlies were season-bests.
The Grizzlies narrowly missed advancing a runner in the women's 800 as freshman
Lieke Hoogsteen finished in ninth overall with a time of 2:11.59, sophomore
Rachel O'Brien finished in 15th with a time of 2:13.05 and junior
Jessica Simon finished in 17th place. She posted a time of 2:13.39.
Junior
David Cardenas posted the 12 th best time in the men's 800-meter prelims with a time of 1:54.36.
After the first day of action, the Grizzlies are in the top five in both the men and women's team standings.
On the women's side, after six events, the Grizzlies are tied with RMAC-foe Colorado School of Mines for first place with 20 points each.
On the men's side, after four events the Grizzlies are in second place with ten points, behind Missouri Southern State, who has 16 points.
The Grizzlies will look to close out the 2022-23 Indoor Track on Saturday
