Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
Potts Indoor Invitational
Buffs Shine On First Day At Potts Invite
January 16, 2015 | Track and Field
BOULDER — Several University of Colorado athletes shined on Friday at the Potts Invitational, with four winning their respective events.
Senior Mark Jones won the men's high jump after clearing 6 feet, 11 inches. He was the only jumper to clear that height, which he did on his third attempt. Jones didn't enter the event until the bar was at 6-7, and he sailed right over it on his first try. It took all three attempts for him to pass 6-9.
“Mark's jump was a huge confidence builder for him,” assistant coach Lindsey Malone said. “Jumping 6-11 is great. His personal record indoors is 7-2.5, so that's kind of what we're looking for. But, he was kind of in a technical slump for a couple of meets here now. This [6-11] definitely needed to happen and he was very close to 7 feet this afternoon. I think we're back in the realm of Mark looking good and feeling good. He's just so much faster and so much stronger that we were having a hard time keeping his curve and keeping him away from the bar. If we can get this figured out, Mark is going to be back on the path for very exciting things.”
CU also won the women's high jump with freshman Rajon O'Quinn recording a jump of 5-6. She too had a great series, coming in when the bar was at 5-2.25. She cleared the height on her first attempt before taking two jumps to get over 5-4.25. O'Quinn only needed one try at 5-6 and just barely missed the next height 5-8.
“We have been working through a lot of things with Rajon and she is just wonderful to work with,” Malone said. “She's incredibly talented but there are definitely things that need to change from jumping 5-5 to 5-10 where she's talented enough to jump and where she's been close to jumping at in practice.”
Bekah Daniel, a senior transfer, had a great day in the triple jump, recording a mark of 37-6. Daniel only had two fair jumps, but they were both very good. Her other jump was 37-1.
“Bekah is very consistent,” Malone said. “She is within 10 centimeters every meet now. So we're figuring out her first phase. Once she gets her hips underneath her, then we'll hopefully stretch that out. I think she's already in the top four in our school's performers list. She's a great addition to the team and a joy to work with.”
The fourth Buff to record a first-place finish was junior Abrianna Torres in the long jump. Torres leaped 18-8, out jumping the runner-up, CU's Mariah Slack, by almost two feet (16-10). She also did well in the high jump, placing second with a mark of 5-4.25.
“Abrianna had a great day today,” Malone said. “She's consistent in long jump. What we're looking for ultimately is that she's consistent on the board every jump for three jumps so that she can get the maximum amount of points that she can out of long jump in the pentathlon. Her high jump today was her season best. This is her season where I think we should be gunning for top in the conference and going to NCAAs. Consistency for her and building her confidence in each of the events is going to be big. I'm looking for her to have a big mark next week and she knows that.”
Overall, Malone was very happy with the performances by her athletes on Friday. Sophomore Mariah Slack was second in the long jump (16-10) and tied for third in the high jump (5-2.25). Junior Ewelina Pena and freshman Michaela Wenning tied with Slack for third in the high jump as well. Freshman Andrew Ghizzone placed third in the men's long jump (21-1.25) and Mason Chronowski was third in the high jump (6-1.25).
“I love this meet because it's at home, it's our environment and it's what we practice on,” Malone said. “It's our ability to take what we're technically working on in practice and put it in a meet scenario in a very comfortable environment. A lot of technical gains that I've been looking for in practice we actually did in a meet today. The results will be seen later in the season but this is definitely what I needed to see at this point in the year. Plus, we had PRs and you can never complain about that. Ultimately, you want to see personal bests but I want to see technical gains early in the season like this so that I know the end of the season is going to go quite well for us.”
The second day of the Potts Invitational is Saturday at Balch Fieldhouse. The weight throw and shot put will start the day at 10 a.m. and the track events will start at 2 p.m. Admission is free.
2015 POTTS INDOOR INVITE
Balch Fieldhouse (Boulder, Colo.)
(Complete results are available at CUBuffs.com)
Field Events – CU Athletes only
Women's High Jump: 1. Rajon O'Quinn, 5-06; 2. Abrianna Torres, 5-01.25; t3. Mariah Slack, 5-02.25; t3. Ewelina Pena, 5-02.25; t3. Michaela Wenning, 5-02.25; 8. Claire Kazen, 5-00.05; 9. Talia Howe, 4-08.25
Men's High Jump: 1. Mark Jones, 6-11; 3. Mason Chronowski, 6-01.25
Women's Pole Vault: (Jamie Connor, Unattached, 11-08); no CU athletes
Men's Pole Vault: (1. Mark Van Benschoten, unattached, 15-01) no CU athletes
Women's Long Jump: 1. Abrianna Torres, 18-08; 2. Mariah Slack, 16-10; 6. Michaela Wenning, 15-05.50; 7. Ewelina Pena, 15-05; 8. Claire Kazen, 15-04.25; 9. Talia Howe, 15-02.75
Men's Long Jump: (1. Colin Scheerer, Colorado State, 22-07); 3. Andrew Ghizzone, 21-01.25
Women's Triple Jump: 1. Bekah Daniel, 37-06
Men's Triple Jump: (1. Julian Dulaney, Metro State, 43-11.25); no CU athletes
Players Mentioned
