Rollins, Elliott on track for PRs as RMAC Championships open

N.M. Highlands’ Graham, Western State’s Sanders leads multis at RMAC Championships

PUEBLO, Colo. (May 9, 2010) – The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference’s top-ranked heptathlete, New Mexico Highlands’ Angella Graham, and top-ranked decathlete, Western State’s Cody Sanders, took important first steps toward 2010 RMAC titles Sunday, leading the field after one day of competition in multi-events portion of the 2010 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championships, being held at Colorado State University-Pueblo’s Neta and Eddie DeRose ThunderBowl.

Through four events of the women’s heptathlon, Graham took first place honors in two – the 200-meter and the high jump, holding a more than 200-point lead over the second-place competitor, Adams State’s Amanda Doyle.

Sanders rode jumps to his first-place showing after five events of the men’s decathlon, winning the high jump and long jump to post a nearly 200-point lead over the men’s second-place competitor, Nebraska-Kearney’s Bryson Mahlberg.

Graham and Sanders are putting their respective teams in position to take the most team points from the event, with the victor securing 10 points toward a hopeful RMAC team championship, but not far behind are Colorado School of Mines on the men’s side and CSU-Pueblo on the women’s side. 

Mines boast two potential point-getters after five events, with Jim Hanafin in third place and Matthew Stark in third, which if the finish holds, would score nine team points for the Orediggers.

The ThunderWolves would also net nine team points if everything holds up, coming from Jasmine Rollins (Sr., Colorado Springs, Colo.) in fourth place and Sherrea Elliott (Fr., Colorado Springs, Colo.) in fifth with 2,606 and 2,474 points, respectively, through four events.  Rollins and Elliott are both on track to register personal bests.  Rollins is on pace to net more than 4,500 points in the heptathlon, which would set a CSU-Pueblo school record in the event as well as be a provisional qualification for the national championships.

The multis will continue Monday at 9:30 a.m. for the women and 10 a.m. for the men. Monday also features the finals for the 10K and the 3K Steeplechase, the finals for the shot put, long jump, high jump and discus, as well as the preliminaries for sprints and hurdle events.  Action begins at 8:30 a.m. with the men’s 10K.