Northern Colorado track and field began its competition at the Graduate Classic in Lincoln, Nebraska, on Friday. The team delivered several notable performances, including an event win by Daniel Beckford and multiple entries into the program’s all-time indoor record book.
Beckford led the Bears in the men’s 60-meter hurdles, finishing first in both the preliminaries (7.97 seconds) and finals (7.90 seconds). His final time ranks him second on Northern Colorado’s all-time list for the event. Teammates Moise Bennett, Jaydon Sundbye, and Ryan Pollyea also participated in the preliminaries, with Bennett narrowly missing a spot in the final.
In women’s hurdles, Alexia Austin placed third in the prelims with a time of 8.81 seconds to automatically qualify for the finals. Donice Bruno-Ezealah finished sixth in qualifying (8.95), then took fourth place in the final with a time of 8.89 seconds—earning her tenth place on UNC’s all-time list for that event.
Distance races produced more top-10 program marks for Northern Colorado athletes. Sabina Stroia ran 10:15.08 to finish eleventh in the women’s 3000 meters, moving her to eighth on UNC’s all-time list for that distance. In the men’s mile, Logan Gullett secured sixth place with a time of 4:20.79 and entered UNC history at number ten for that event.
The team also saw strong showings across sprint and middle-distance events. Monique Stewart was ninth overall in the women’s 400 meters at 57.13 seconds; Vanessa Ward placed twenty-fourth. On the men’s side, Mark Miller finished fifth (48.79), Raphael Egbuchilem sixth (49.19), and Christopher Cheatham ninth (49.77).
In men’s sprints, Edgar Garcia advanced to the finals of the 60-meter dash after running 6.92 seconds in prelims; he later finished fifth overall with a time of 6.99 seconds.
For field events, April Necaise placed eighth and Ciara Piffarerio ninth in women’s high jump while Ryan Pollyea finished thirteenth among men with a clearance of 1.88 meters.
Northern Colorado will continue its participation as finals are held Saturday at the Graduate Classic.
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