Women Lead CU to Success on Final Day at Air Force

Saturday, January 21

USAFA, Colo.

All Day

Colorado

Air Force Invitational

Rajon O'Quinn anchoring the 4x400 to conclude her big weekend

January 21, 2017 | Track and Field

Results

By: Maggie Still, Assistant SID

USAF ACADEMY, COLO. —The University of Colorado Track and Field team was paced by the women on the final day of competition at the Air Force Invitational here Saturday by capturing multiple top-5 finishes.

WHAT HAPPENED:
The women's 200-meter finals were loaded with Buffs, as junior Rajon O'Quinn took home the event title with a PR time of 24.25. This time moves her into her third overall in the CU women's all-time indoor best performers coming in behind Ana Holland (23.95). Alexandria Peters came in right behind O'Quinn clocking a 24.92 time to finish second. Tashay Brown rounded out the Colorado athletes in the event racing to a 24.96 time to place fourth. In the women's high jump, O'Quinn continued her spectacular day by tying for third with a mark of 5-7/1.70.

Maja Wichart-Donzo captured the triple jump event title landing a 39-3.25/11.97 mark. Close behind her, coming in third was freshman Sarah Hopkins with a PR mark of 38-11.75/11.88. In the women's 60-meter hurdles, Eriana Henderson captured a second-place finish after moving up one spot from the prelims with a time of 8.85.

In the women's 60-meters semifinal Rajon O'Quinn raced a solid 7.61 to finish in second, her time is only .03 seconds off her PR. Junior Tashay Brown finished in 14^th with a time of 7.86. Neither athlete competed in the finals race.

David Merkel recorded a PR in the finals of the 400-meters running a 49.55 to finish in fifth overall. Also on the men's side, Giancarlo Narvarte earned a PR in the high jump hitting a 6-6.75/2.00 to finish in fourth overall. Behind Narvarte in the high jump was teammate Dionne Taylor finishing in fifth with a mark of 6-4.75/1.95.

THE RELAYS
The Colorado women's relays comprised of Henderson, Scott, Peters and O'Quinn came out on top today as they took first place in the mile relay with a time of 3:49.72. This is the fastest Colorado women's indoor mile relay since 2010 where J. Windham, Dreher, Beemer and E. Tremblay clocked a 3:49.49 at USAFA.

NEXT TIME:
The Buffs will return to action on February 2, for the three-day CU open hosted in the Sklar Family Track in the CU Indoor Practice Facility.

QUOTEABLE
Head Coach Mark Wetmore
This meet was more of a developmental meet for our individuals than a team attempt. So, we left out anybody who was not quite healthy or ready to go. Some of our more visible names didn't appear today. Led by Rajon O'Quinn in the 200, running the fastest I think she has ever run for us.

Maja Wichart-Dozo won the triple jump, in not her farthest ever, but best of the year. And not far behind her in third was freshman Sarah Hopkins, which is her best for us. Duane McClurkin had some good races yesterday and one of them was too good that he tweaked his hamstring and wasn't able to go through to the finals.

But this was an individual meet, looking for development athlete by athlete rather than the team as a whole. We left a lot of people out, we will bring many to the next meet which is at home in two weeks.

Coach Lindsey Malone
I think the highlight of the meet is Rajon O'Quinn. She did six events for the buffs this weekend, between prelims and finals, she was a very busy lady. She is the 200-meter champion of the meet which moves her up to third all-time in CU school history, it moves her up to second on our conference list. She was also the anchor leg for our 4x4 relay and they were champions. She ran a 55.33 on her split, which is about a second faster than what she ran last year. And that moves the relay up to fifth all-time fastest in CU and the fastest time that has been run at the 4x4 relay since 2010. She also competed in high jump five minutes after finishing up the semis for the 60 meters, which were her second and third best ever times, and she is already fourth in school history in that one.

Above all I am most impressed with her and her professionalism, her dedication, loyalty and unbelievable trust in me and our program. We are six weeks out from conference so this is amazing to be happening right now. She has put in all the hard work.

2016 AIR FORCE INVITE at the Cadet Field House
USAF ACADEMY, COLO.
(Complete results are available at CUBuffs.com)

Track Events – CU Athletes only
SEMIS Men's 60 Meters: (1. Zach Johnson, Air Force, 6.79) t13. Abdiel Agramonte Moreno, 7.06)
SEMIS Women's 60 Meters: (1. Stachia Reuwsaat, Chadron State, 7.50) 2. Rajon O'Quinn, 7.61; 14. Tashay Brown, 7.86
FINALS Women's 200 Meters: 1. Rajon O'Quinn 24.25; 2. Alexandria Peters, 24.92; 4. Tashay Brown, 24.96
FINALS Men's 400 Meters: (1. Air Force, Sedacy Walden, 48.85) 5. David Merkel, 49.55
FINALS Men's 800 Meters: (1. Zac Petrie, Air Force, 1:54.35); 12. Luke Sheesley, 1:57.51
FINALS Women's 60 Meter Hurdles: (1. Janay Deloach, Nike, 8.15) 2. Eriana Henderson, 8.85
Men's Mile Relay: (1. Air Force, 3:17.41) 3. Colorado, 3:21.09
Women's Mile Relay: 1. Colorado, 3:49.72

Field Events
Men's High Jump: (1. Zachary Blackham, BYU, 7-1.50/2.17) 4. Giancarlo Narvarte, 6-6.75/2.00; 5. Dionne Taylor Jr., 6-4.75/1.95
Women's High Jump: (1. Shelley Spires, Air Force, 6-1.50/1.87) t3. Rajon O'Quinn, 5-7/1.70; 15. Drianna Mustin, 4-11/1.50
Men's Triple Jump: (1. Cameron Gill, Western State, 49-0.75/14.95) 10. De'Jour Plunkett-Elliot, 44-4.25/13.49
Women's Triple Jump: (1. Maja Wichart-Donzo, 39-3.25/11.97) 3. Sarah Hopkins, 38-11.75/11.88
Men's Shot Put: (1. Darby Maier, Air Force, 55-9.75/17.01) 13. Austin Swanson, 39-4/11.99; 14. Greyson Webber, 36-0.25/10.98