Buffs Close Out MPSF Championships with Two Titles

Saturday, February 25

Seattle, Wash.

All Day

Colorado

MPSF Indoor Championships

Ben Saarel and John Dressel both won conference titles on the final day of the MPSF Championships

February 25, 2017 | Track and Field

Results

By: Maggie Still, Assistant SID

SEATTLE, WASH. — The University of Colorado track team claimed the men's mile and the men's 3,000 meter titles with Ben Saarel and John Dressel, here Saturday at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Indoor Track and Field Championships.

TEAM SCORES
The men recorded their highest MPSF finish in school history as they came in sixth overall. The highest previous finish in the MPSF by the men was 10^th from last season. The Colorado women tied their highest finish in the MPSF Championships in fifth place. Last season the Buffs finished fifth as well.

WHAT HAPPENED:
Junior Ben Saarel earned the MPSF title in the mile after clocking a 4:02.33 time. He was able to hold off Oregon's Tim Gorman at the finish as Gorman finished with a time of 4:02.86. Saarel is now only the second Buff to win a conference title in the mile, along with former Buff Tom Reese, who won it in 1998.

Sophomore John Dressel won his first conference title in the men's 3,000 meters with a PR time of 7:51.44. Dressel is the second consecutive Buff to win the event as Pierce Murphy won last year with a time of 7:51.51. This time moves Dressel up to fourth all-time for CU just surpassing Murphy. Eduardo Herrera also had a solid race in the 3,000 as he clocked an 8:04.96 time to finish eighth and earn a point for the Buffs.

Jaron Thomas joined an elite group of Buffs on Saturday as he clocked a sub-8 second 60-meter hurdles in the finals event. Thomas finished in fifth place with a strong 7.89 personal best time. He earned four points for the team and now joins Lex Butler and Reggie DePass in CU history with his under eight seconds time.

CU saw success in the 3,000 meters on the women's side as Kaitlyn Benner finished in second place with a time of 9:11.42 one place higher than her race last season. Teammate Tayler Tuttle just missed scoring for the Buffs as she finished 10^th with a PR time of 9:25.13, more than 30 seconds faster than her time from earlier this season at the Potts Invite (10:10.31). Annie Kelly (9:26.97) and Makena Morley (9:27.45) rounded out the Buffs in the 3,000 meters as they finished 12^th and 13^th, respectively.

The Buffs got some good points from many different events including from sophomore Elissa Mann. She finished fourth in the women's 800 meters as she clocked a 2:07.00 to earn five points for the Buffs. In the women's high jump Rajon O'Quinn cleared 5-7/1.70 to tie for sixth overall and earn the Buffs two points. Maja Wichhart-Donzo earned a point for the team in the triple jump as she placed eighth with a mark of 38-06.75/11.75.

In the sprints, Gabby Scott just missed scoring for the Buffs in the 400 meters crossing the finish line in 54.88, which was .20 seconds away from the eighth place finisher, as she came in ninth. Her time gives her a personal best time in the event. On the men's side Duane McClurkin Jr. also was just shy of scoring for the Buffs as he clocked a PR time of 47.71 to finish 10^th overall. He owns the third fastest indoor time in the 400 by a CU athlete.

HEPTATHLON
Andrew Ghizzone and Isaiah Oliver wrapped up action in the heptathlon on Saturday. Ghizzone closed out the second day of the heptathlon on a strong note adding a first place finish in the 1,000 meters (2:38.81) and a fifth place finish in the pole vault (15-05/4.70) to finish seventh overall with a point total of 5,348. Oliver just missed out on earning points for the Buffs as he finished in ninth overall with 5,281 points.

NEXT TIME:
The NCAA will announce the field for the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships on February 27. Nationals will be held March 10-11 in College Station, Texas.

QUOTABLE (Head Coach Mark Wetmore)
Both teams were a little higher in team scores than I expected. We were higher in team points and quite a bit higher in our placement than I expected. Overall I am pretty pleased.

We started the day with points in the men's heptathlon, Andrew Ghizzone has always had a great second day and today he moved himself up into seventh place overall. For him, he had a really good hurdles and as usual a good vault and then he won the 1,000 meters to move himself from 13^th place to seventh place.

We had some good points in the mile with Ben Saarel adding another victory for us. We swept the distance events on the men's side with the mile, 3,000 and 5,000.

Kaityln Benner was a big point scorer for us in the 3,000 meters, finishing second with a time that will end up in the top six or eight all-time for CU.

Lots of small points which is great to go along with the big distance points adding up to team finishes that I am really happy with. And we added a few people who will go to Nationals so I am overall pretty pleased.

2017 MPSF INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Dempsey Indoor (Seattle, Washington)

Women's Team Scores
1.) USC 125
2.) Oregon 105
3.) Stanford 57
4.) UCLA 52.33
5.) COLORADO 52
6.) Arizona State 45
7.) Washington 41
8.) Washington State 33.50
9.) Arizona 29
10.) BYU 27

Men's Team Scores
1.) Oregon 89
2.) USC 83
3.) UCLA 70
4.) BYU 65
5.) Arizona State 53
6.) COLORADO 47
7.) Cal 45.50
8.) Washington 44.50
9.) Arizona 42
10.) Washington State 41

Men's Heptathlon
Points: (1. Mitch Modin, Oregon, 5,747) 7. Andrew Ghizzone, 5,348; 9. Isaiah Oliver, 5,281
60-Meters: (1. Tyler Brendel, Cal, 6.92) 2. Isaiah Oliver, 6.94; 13. Andrew Ghizzone, 7.34
Long Jump: (1. Isaiah Oliver, 23-11.00/7.29) T7. Andrew Ghizzone, 22-05.75/6.85
Shot Put: (1. Mitch Modin, 44-05.5/13.55) 3. Isaiah Oliver, 43-05/13.23; 14. Andrew Ghizzone, 34-10.5/10.63
High Jump: (1. Cole Jensen, Washington, 6-8/2.03) 8. Andrew Ghizzone, 6-02/1.88; T11. Isaiah Oliver, 6-00.75/1.85
60-Meter Hurdles: (1. Tyler Brendel, California, 8.11) 4. Andrew Ghizzone, 8.42, 10. Isaiah Oliver, 8.70
Pole Vault: (1. Liam Henshaw, Arizona State, 16-00/4.90) T5. Andrew Ghizzone, 15-05/4.70; 13. Isaiah Oliver, 11-9.75/3.60
1,000 Meters: (1. Andrew Ghizzone, 2:38.81) 5. Isaiah Oliver, 2:44.75

Field Events:
Women High Jump: (1. Lisanne Hagens, Arizone, 6-00.75/1.85) T6. Rajon O'Quinn, 5-7/1.70
Women Triple Jump: (1. Keyasia Tibbs, Arizona State, 43-02.25/13.16) 8. Maja Wichhart-Donzo, 38-6.75/11.75; 19. Sarah Hopkins, 36-9.75/11.22

Track Events:
Women Mile: (1. Katie Rainsberger, Oregon, 4:35.60) 10. Madison Boreman, 4:41.41; 12. Sage Hurta, 4:43.53; 24. Tabor Scholl, 4:51.09
Men Mile: (1. Ben Saarel, 4:02.33) 21. Phillip Rocha, 4:13.79
FINAL Men 60 Hurdles: (1. Ashtyn Davis, Cal, 7.75) 5. Jaron Thomas, 7.98
Women 400 Meters: (1. Cameron Pettigrew, USC, 52.27) 9. Gabby Scott, 54.88; 18. Alexandria Peters, 56.17
Men 400 Meters: (1. Marcus Chambers, Oregon, 46.40) 10. Duane McClurkin Jr., 47.71; 28. Trenton Stringari, 49.10
Women 800 Meters: (1. Olivia Baker, Stanford, 2:03.41) 4. Elissa Mann, 2:07.00; 16. Karina Mann, 2:11.65
Men 800 Meters: (1. Robert Ford, USC, 1:49.53) 9. Zach Perrin, 1:51.78; 14. Connor Dunne, 1:54.82
Women 3,000 Meters: (1. Alli Cash, Oregon, 3:09.18) 2. Kaitlyn Benner, 9:11.42; Tayler Tuttle, 9:25.13; 12. Annie Kelly, 9:26.97; 13. Makena Morley, 9:27.45
Men 3,000 Meters: (1. John Dressel, 7:51.44) 8. Eduardo, Herrera, 8:04.96; 29. Christian Martin, 8:19.04
Women 4x400 Relay: (1. USC, 3:32.54) 5. Colorado, O'Quinn, Wichhart-Donzo, Peters, Scott, 3:46.69
Men 4x400 Relay: (1. Arizona State, 3:09.38) 6. Colorado, Thomas, Haynes, Stringari, McClurkin, 3:12.68