Although it is still early in the 2013-14 track season, the Mavericks are performing like nationals are right around the corner. CMU traveled to Colorado Springs for the second time this season to compete in the Air Force Invitational, an open meet that included RMAC schools as well as Division I teams such as Air Force, Colorado State, Colorado University, Fresno State, UNLV, Northern Colorado and BYU. Both the men’s and women’s teams performed very well against great talent and earned a fourth place finish in the meet as well as having four top performers out of the Division II field that set provisional qualifying marks for the NCAA championships.

Head men’s track and field coach Matt Canterbury explained that the athletes competing in the invitational had a much more aggressive mentality than they have had all season, which helped them in their performances.

“We started competing with more confidence this weekend,” Canterbury said. “The last few weeks we have been worried more about strategy than with competing. We are finally starting to transfer our practices to the competitions.”

Junior sprinter Whitney Rowe was the top performer for the Mavs, qualifying in two events with personal-record times of 7.68 seconds in the 60-meter race and 25.26 in the 200-meter race. Both times were best among Division II competitors at the meet and rank 13th overall in the NCAA. Junior distance runner Shane Niksic finished best among Division II performers in his event, the 800-meter race, with a qualifying time of 1:53.51. His performance currently ranks third in Division II. According to women’s head coach Katrice Thomas, Niksic had to fight an uphill battle against great talent to earn his position.

“Shane Niksic really ran a heck of a race in the 800 meter event,” Thomas said. “He was behind a pack of four or five guys for most of the race, but was able to dig deep to finish with provisional qualifying time against great athletes.”

Thrower Keanan Garnes set a provisional qualifying score in shot put with a throw of 42-8.75 feet and sprinter Cathryn Ambler set an indoor career best time as well as a qualifier in the 800-meter race with a time of 2:22.67. Coach Canterbury explained how going against Division I teams gave the program a competitive advantage for the rest of the season.

“I always think it’s advantageous for us to compete against top competition,” Canterbury said. “Competing against these teams forces us to take chances, which in turn produces better results for us.”

The Mavericks will travel to Golden for their next meet at Colorado School of Mines this Saturday.

mfreter@mavs.coloradomesa.edu