SEATTLE – The University of Colorado track and field program kicked things off Friday in the Dempsey Arena for the first day of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) indoor track and field championships here with a pair of top-five finishes on the women's side.
 
Holly Bent scored the most points for Colorado as she finished second in the women's 5,000 with a time of 16:12.52. The leader, Christina Rice of UCLA, went with 1200 meters to go, but Bent made a strong move to close in the final straightaway. Despite a strong effort at the end that had the pair neck-and-neck with 15 meters remaining, Rice held off Bent by three-tenths of a second for the win.
 
Also in the race were freshmen Elizabeth Constien and Kaitlyn Barthell. Barthell finished 13th overall in 16:41.27 while Constien finished 17th in 16:55.56.
 
The other top-five performance on the women's side came from freshman Avery McMullen in the women's pentathlon. McMullen started things out with a third-place finish in the 60 hurdles at 8.67, then pushed to second in the competition after clearing 1.70 meters (5-7) in the high jump for second. She moved to third after a lifetime best in the shot put at 10.72 meters (35-2). McMullen had to settle for a safety jump in the long jump after fouling her first two attempts, jumping 5.44 meters (17-10.25) for fifth in the jumps and third in the pentathlon. She finished sixth in the 800 in 2:26.78 to drop two spots to her final fifth place with 3,829 points.
 
On the men's side, Alec Hornecker finished sixth in the 5,000 for the only points for Colorado. He neared closer to the 14-minute barrier, crossing the line in 14:04.18. He was joined by Austin Vancil in 12th (14:20.79) and Paxton Smith in 22nd (14:48.43).
 
Tyler Sconce had a strong performance in the men's weight throw, placing ninth after qualifying for finals. The sophomore tossed 18.18 meters (59-7.75), throwing past 18 meters for the second time in a week.
 
The women's hurdle group had a solid showing with Eriana Henderson and Dani Johnson finishing ninth and 10^th, respectfully. The duo was just two-hundredths of a second from the eighth-place spot to finals with Henderson running 8.52 seconds and Johnson 8.53. Valerie Welch was 13^th at 8.62 seconds while Tamia Badal placed 16^th at 8.75 seconds.

Both Welch and Henderson went straight to the long jump following the hurdles with Welch finishing 14th overall out of the first flight and Henderson finishing 10th overall out of the second flight. Welch put together a jump of 5.43 meters (17-9.75) while Henderson was just three centimeters from finals after jumping 5.58 meters (18-3.75) on her final attempt.

Things ramp up tomorrow as action begins at 11 a.m. MT with McMullen returning in the women's high jump alongside Kylee Harr. The final event is scheduled for 3:55 with the men's 4x400-meter relay.