The Western Colorado University men's and women's track and field teams made their second appearance of the outdoor season at the Chuck Haering Invitational in Pueblo on March 29. The Mountaineers amassed several top-five finishes at Colorado State University Pueblo's ThunderBowl, topped by first-place finishes in the women's high jump and men's steeplechase.
Kyle Partin opened the day with a first-place time of 9 minutes, 30.26 seconds in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. He was joined in the top five by teammate John Houdeshell in third place.
Late in the morning Sammie Bretz took to the apron in the high jump, clearing a height of 1.62 meters to claim the event title. This was Bretz' first competition since the 2025 NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships in mid-March where she finished 14th.
The Mountaineers picked up multiple runner-up finishes in other field events at the invite. Aaleiah Porter-Gyll cleared a height of 3.15 meters to take second in the women's pole vault event, while Robert Letsche took second with a 4.50 leap for the Western men.
Scoring a second place in the women's hammer throw was Rylee Blanton, whose fourth toss of the session landed at 51.56 meters. Logan Butterfield claimed fifth place in the men's event, registering a best throw of 53.11 meters on his fifth attempt from the circle.
Torrin Franklin and Tarryn Moore earned third- and fourth-place finishes in the men's high jump. Western's top finisher in the women's javelin was fourth-place Lindsey Osterfelt.
The Mountaineers provided a pair of third-place leaps in the long jump. Gabi Huggins landed in the pit with a jump of 5.65 meters in the women's event, and Moore added a third place in the men's event with a best leap of 6.85 meters.
On the oval, and early in the event schedule, Haley Wood and Jayda Nix scored second and fourth place, respectively, in the women's steeplechase. Wood posted a runner-up time of 11:30.54, and Nix crossed the finish line in 11:57.99.
James Duncan earned second place in the men's 110-meter high hurdles with a time of 14.74, less than a second behind the event winner.
Contributing two more third-place finishes from the women's side of the ledger were Peyton Weiss and Nellie Wartanian. Weiss took third in the 1500-meter run with a time of 4:44.71, and Wartanian sprinted to a time of 25.56 to take third place in the 200-meter dash.
The Mountaineers will head to Grand Junction April 3-4 for the Maverick Invite, hosted by Colorado Mesa University.
(Gregg Petcoff is the assistant athletics director for communications at Western Colorado University and can be reached at gpetcoff@western.edu.)
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