It’s a rare occurrence for the Colorado State University track and field team to compete with every athlete at one meet, but that’s exactly what happened this past weekend. On Thursday, Friday and Saturday, the Rams attended the Colorado Invitational at the University of Colorado Boulder picking up seven victories in the process. 

CU Boulder continues their indoor at-home competition every year with the Colorado Invitational: one that gives statewide universities an opportunity to flex their muscles in front of their in-state competition. 

CSU track and field has been thriving early in the season, and they looked to shine in this meet. Head coach Brian Bedard was more than optimistic about having the whole team at the same meet. 

“I love it when our entire team is at a meet,” Bedard said. “Our athletes do a fantastic job of supporting each other, and it inspires outstanding performances. I thought we had highlights in most event areas.”

Friday, the second day of competition, was owned by CSU’s Aria Tate and Isa Bynum. Tate took home first place in the women’s long jump, and Bynum placed first in the men’s long jump.

Tate, a junior, has had an incredible start to what may be a very successful entire season. With this first place in Friday’s long jump competition, Tate now has five first place finishes as of December. 

“Overall, the ladies overcame some physical and mental barriers this week,” assistant coach Shane Ryan said. “As a group, it’s great to see that what we are working on in practice is starting to carry over to the meets.”

Saturday, the final day of the Colorado Invitational, concluded with the Rams atop the podium in seven events and multiple other top three finishes. Bedard was ecstatic about his team’s performance on Saturday.

“The women’s distance squad stood out today, and the men’s 4×400 relay school record was an exclamation point at the end of the meet,” Bedard said. 

Your new school record holders in the 4×4 3:10.57 pic.twitter.com/bSKDfcYCwq

— JJ Riese (@JJ_Riese) February 1, 2020

CSU has an unstoppable men’s 4×400 relay team with the likes of Tom Willems, Adam Stark, Germain Barnes and DeVon Washington. This talented unit took first place at the Colorado Invitational and took over the CSU record with a time of 3:10.57. Look out for this group of student athletes to keep pushing the pace and continuing to shatter records. 

Overall, CSU showed out at the Colorado Invitational. The Rams’ next meet is coming up next week on Feb. 7-8 at the UCCS Mountain Lion Invite in Colorado Springs.

The University of Colorado Colorado Springs is hosting the Mountain Lion Invite, and the indoor invitational will host most major indoor track and field events. Expect Colorado State University to have a great showing due to their short travel time and momentum coming from a successful meet in Boulder.

Jack Taylor can be reached at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @j_taylr.