Alamosa, Colo. – The Grizzlies wrapped up a weekend full of strong performances on Saturday evening. The Adams State team competed once again at three meets on opposite sides of the country, the UNM Don Kirby Elite Invite, the Harvard Crimson Open, and the BU David Hemery Valentine Invitational.

Lieke Hoogsteen once again highlighted the day for the women's team, posting a new NCAA DII No. 3 mark of 4:39.18 in the mile. This makes her the 2nd fastest woman in Adams State history in the event. She was 3rd overall in the highly competitive field at BU.

Also in the mile, Marie Garret bettered her time from yesterday and upgraded her national qualifying mark to 4:47.87. Addison Bisceglie was not far behind in 4:53.46, securing a national qualifying mark of her own. Clara Keddy turned in a nine second personal best of 4:54.51.

Ava O'Connor produced another strong performance in the 3000m at BU. Her time of 9:03.37 is only bettered on the national list by her standing No.1 mark of 9:03.03. Tristian Spence crossed the line in 9:14.19, which ranks her second in the DII standings. The 3000m is now the third event in which Tristian has qualified for nationals, along with the mile and the 5000m.

Also in the 3000m at BU, Maggie McCleskey turned in another national qualifying mark in 9:37.46. Just behind her, in 9:40.15, was Tanya Bouet, securing a national mark of her own. In the 5000m, Claragh Keane, Lea Navarro, Keira Damron, and Aspen Fulbright all secured national qualifying marks. They ran times of 16:33.95, 16:42.57, 16:46.41, and 16:51.24, respectively.

Over at Harvard, Danyom Yosief kicked off the action for the men with a statement win in the 3000m. He had already run a national qualifying mark in the event. Felix Perrier followed closely behind in third in a national qualifying mark of 8:07.85. Jack Gumm and Nathan Scherbarth were 4th and 5th in the event in 8:21.86 and 8:22.08.

Louis O'Loughlin backed up his sub-4 mile yesterday with another strong performance. He ran a national qualifying mark in the 800m of 1:51.17, winning his section of the event and coming 3rd overall. Housem Hrabi picked up the Adams State men's 2nd win of the day in the mile, running 4:02.65. Housem already tops the national leaderboard in the event. Harrison Boyd and Kidus Begashaw followed closely behind in 2nd and 3rd, giving the Grizzlies the sweep in the event. Their performances of 4:04.51 and 4:05.31, respectively, earn them a spot among the national qualifiers in the mile.

In Albuquerque, Sam Dirkes turned in another strong performance in the shot put. He placed 2nd in the DI heavy competition with a mark of 18.28 meters. Grizzly freshman Biruk Begashaw was 6th in the mile in 4:17.57, winning his section of the event with an impressive finish. Another young Grizzly, freshman Marcelo Corbitt, finished 7th in the mile with a time of 4:19.77.

The Grizzly track & field squad will travel to Gunnison next Saturday for the Western Colorado Alumni Open.