The Colorado Buffaloes opened up their 2012 outdoor track season this weekend at the Pott’s Invitational in Boulder. This marks the first year for the Buffs in the Pac-12 Conference, who had success in the cross country season, as both men’s and women’s teams were Pac-12 champions.
The only action on Friday afternoon was the throwing events. On the women’s side, junior Emily Hunsucker won the hammer throw by a margin of nearly eight feet with a throw of 191 feet, 9 inches. As for the men, sophomore Alex Kizirian picked up where he left off indoor season and threw the hammer 189 feet, 3 inches to take first place and ten team points.
Running events opened Saturday afternoon kicking off with the steeplechase. The Buffaloes swept the top four spots in the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase, with Hugh Dowdy edging his fellow Buffs to win in a time of 9:41.8.
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Sprinters Blake Berens and Blake Reimer each had a full day, both participating in the 200 and 400-meter sprints. Berens, a sophomore, took second place in the 200-meter dash with a time of 21.86, just 0.8 seconds off his personal best, a good sign for him this early in the year. Reimer placed fourth in that race, not far behind Berens in a time of 22.01.
The female sprinters were led by freshman Eileen Gehring. Gehring won both the 100 and 200-meter dash in times of 12.17 and 24.40. Also in the 200-meter dash were freshmen Bridget Sweeney and Lindsy Mattson rounding out in second and third, respectively, to sweep the top three spots for the Buffs.
Brianne Beemer also looked strong running in the 100-meter hurdles and 400-meter hurdles. Beemer, a junior, took third in the 100-meter with a time of 14.42. In the 400-meter hurdles, Beemer set a personal record and won by a margin of over three seconds in a time of 1 minute, 0.12 seconds.
In the distance events, the Buffs continued with tradition and looked strong. Camille Logan won the women’s 3,000-meter run by over 10 seconds with a run of 9:54.77. The men swept the top three spots of the 3,000 meter, led by freshman and Hawaii native Pierce Murphy. Murphy showed some last lap heroics and put himself ahead of teammates Dillon Shije (8:46.24) and Garrett Ward (8:50.97) with a hard kick finishing in 8:39.47.
The day ended with the 4×400 meter relay. The Buffs won both the men’s and women’s races. The men’s team, consisting of Tyler Baker, Kyle Macintosh, Berens and Reimer, ran a time of 3:18.12. Lindsey Hubbard, Mattson, Gehring and Sweeney formed the women’s team which sprinted to a time of 3:51.52.
As the season progresses, the Buffs will be looking to make their presence heard in the Pac-12. The combined events team will be in action again at the Jim Click Invitational March 30 and 31 in Tucson, Ariz., while the rest of the team will be at the Fum McGraw Quadrangular in Fort Collins the same weekend.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Ryan Sterner at Ryan.sterner@colorado.edu.
