Colorado's Indoor Track and Field Delivers Impressive Performance in Opening Weekend

Saturday, December 2

Golden, Colo.

All Day

Colorado

Day 2

Photo by: Herman Shelton

Colorado's Indoor Track and Field Delivers Impressive Performance in Opening Weekend

December 02, 2023 | Track and Field

Final Mines Alumni Classic

All-American Avery McMullen breaks own school 60mh record, 8 Buffaloes set personal records

By: Herman Shelton, Associate Director/Athletic Communications

Golden, Colo. - The Buffaloes celebrated an exceptional opening weekend, clinching 12 personal records and breaking two school records under the stellar performance of All-American Avery McMullen. McMullen, who had previously shattered a 41-year school record during the Mines Alumni Classic, added to her achievements by breaking her own 60mh record on the second at Steinhauer Fieldhouse on the Colorado School of Mines campus.

McMullen's dominance continued with a second first-place finish of the weekend in the 60mh, where she cruised to the finish line. Teammate Jada Green secured a second-place finish, finishing just three-tenths of a second behind, while Reese Renz secured a fifth-place finish.

Ian Gilmore showcased his prowess in the men's 60m, recording a personal best of 6.77 and finishing in fifth place.

In the 60m hurdles, Nick Bianco and John Swabik performed remarkably, recording personal bests of 8.19 and 8.27 in the prelims, respectively. Both athletes advanced to the finals, finishing fourth and fifth, respectively.

The field events saw Matt Ward achieving a personal best on his final throw, securing a second-place finish in the weight throw. Isaiah Brouchard (fifth), Laur Atkinson (seventh), and Lucas Williams (eighth) rounded out the Buffaloes' strong presence in the weight throw.

On the women's side, Amanda Opp finished fourth, showcasing her personal best throw (18.03m), while Bella Braun and Eleana Opp secured top-ten finishes.

Meanwhile, Colorado athletes Ella Baran, Abbey Glynn, and Austin Vancil participated in the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener at Boston University. Glynn stood out, winning her first-ever 600m run with a time of 1:28.48. Vancil finished 87th out of 250 in the 5000m, and Baran secured 19th place out of 183 runners in the same event.

Coaches Thoughts:

Coach Wetmore (Head Coach)

Your group performance in Boston and Abbey's first-place finish:

"Austin was too hard too early. Given how the race went, he did not have much choice. He can run a good amount faster..."

"...That was a useful run for Abbey. It's an unusual distance, but maybe indicative of potential at 800m. A win is always nice..."

"... Ella had a good run as well. She will race some more in the latter part of the season. We both are interested in seeing her at 3k."

Assistant Coach Casey Malone (Throws)

What did you see out of your athletes?

I think meet one is always a good test; we saw some really good things that we were hoping to see, some good early season marks..." said Coach C. Malone "... coach continued to say, "... There's a couple personal bests in there, and it's a really good solid opener."

Did anybody surprise you over the weekend?

"Lars did a great job." stated Coach Malone. he continued, " Isaiah had a pretty nice PR and the way through as well today, so he did a good job with a nice improvement."

What do you do throughout the week to prepare for the Air Force Invitational?

"... there are a couple of things that kind of stuck out to me look at general trends and see, is there anything that we're missing, is there some technical flaw or some inefficient that may have gone wrong or something we're missing in our training overall that showed up at this meet. I saw a couple of things that I think I want to address going into next weekend..."

In conclusion, coach Malone stated, " I think this is a good encouraging performances opener, but also for them, it gives them a boost of confidence, I think going into air force..." coach continued, "... So our expectations will go up with our next [meet] this first one this was a really good encouraging building thing to go into Air Force."

Assistant Coach Burke Bockman - (sprints and hurdles)

Your thoughts on weekend performance:

"All right, little rusty. That's why we're here to get some work in. But overall, the guys look good. We can work on things we know we can do now. Reese, Randy's got two races, and that's kind of the glory times." said Coach Bockman. "...Ian Gilmore is probably the highlight of our group with his new PR of 6.78 in the 60. He's truly just a 400-meter guy. So for 400 guys to be able to drop his 60 times in December to 6.78, that's exciting for him. He's a hard worker."

Coach concluded, "...my group will shut it down. We're going to do some time trials on our track in the IPF. We won't be racing again until our home meet in January.

Assistant Coach Lindsy Malone (combined events and jumps)

First, meet in the books discuss what you saw:

"Everyone worked on things that they've been working on in practice, and it showed up in the meet, and we wound up getting so many PRs and then two new school records, which is just amazing to happen at any time of life, let alone the first meet of a new season."

Let's talk about Avery a little bit. [she] broke the record a 41-year-old record, the first night, then came in and broke another record today just talking about Avery's performance:

"She's worked on this for a very long time, and every year, she has the ability to learn something new and to get better and to learn from, you know, what she did the prior year, and she ended last year as an All American competing at the USA championships and nearly missing making a US team. This year is where she set herself that she's at this level, and she's [going to] be one to contend with this entire year. It's amazing to set a school record ever, let alone to break a school record held by a two-time Olympian, Annette Tannander, during the long jump. Hannah Cooper was the hurdle record holder before she [Ahvery] got to it last year, and she also broke hers. Cooper is also an Olympian, so it's just it's amazing. Avery's a phenomenal person. It is tremendous to work with her."

Did anybody surprise you this weekend:

No, I know very specifically what they do in practice, and then you just hope you see approach with a little bit of a meet environment where they can truly just let themselves fly. They all did amazing. I don't even know how many PRs we had, even that hurdle race alone. I think we had eight for the whole group competing. Which you work the entire season for a personal record and to get it on the first meet? This is just, you know, they've worked hard. They've earned this. I'm very proud of them.

Air Force, next week, what do you prepare? Or how do you prepare for the Air Force meet?

So we're going to do a split squad, so my Multis are going to compete at UCCS, and we're doing a pentathlon and heptathlon. That's really what all of these events this weekend are preparing them for to get as many points as possible. So with this many PRs, we've already got two events in the books that are going to be solid, and then we will have some competitors at Air Force as well; those will be just the jumpers doing open events.

Avery McMullen (combined events)

Avery, lets discuss your performance. This is your first meet for the season, but you broke a 41-year record. How does that feel?

It was really exciting. I've been eyeing that record for a couple of years now. So I was excited when I got it and had just been practicing to try hard for it during the fall.

Talk about your performance overall, you finished on top of the prelims and are now in the finals for the 60-meter hurdles. Just talk about what you are looking forward through the season:

I'm super happy with the start [of the season]. I am really focusing on the pentathlon next week; it's good practice to get ready for it.

So you put your stamp on our [CU's] record books with several records. How do you feel? You're almost at the finish line of your career here in Colorado, now working on a professional career. Just talk about your time at Colorado.

I absolutely love Colorado. I love Coach Malone. She means so much to me. She's honestly one of my best friends. I'm sad to leave, but I'm also really honored to see what we've accomplished together here.

Up Next:

The Buffs will travel to Colorado Springs to participate in the Air Force Holiday Open December 8th as well as the UCCS Pre-Holiday Invite.

Notes:

Two school records for 4x ALL-AMERICAN Avery McMullen (60mh 8.23 & Long Jump 20'3.5")

CU All Time Top 10 list:

#1 60mh AVERY MCMULLEN

#1 Long jump: AVERY MCMULLEN

#6 60mh JADA GREEN 8.51 (8.41 PR)

#8 60mh NICK BIANCO 8.19 PR

#9 60mh JOHN SWABIK 8.27 PR

Personal Records Set:

Nick Bianco: 60mh 8.19