The final home track and field meet for the Colorado State University Rams came to a windy conclusion. The Jack Christiansen Invitational consisted of some local collegiate competitions and was a hub for local high school athletes as well. Colorado State secured some top 20 performances on CSU’s all-time list.

The meet started Friday, April 22, the first session to start off the event including only the collegiate hammer throw competition. Both the men and women performed well in the event, as Mariano Kis took third place with a personal best of 56.60 meters. Tarynn Sieg (Bown), in typical fashion, also showed out, winning the women’s competition with a throw of 61.52 meters.

Perhaps the most influential factor of the meet was the wind, which was steady at around 25 mph all day. For the majority of the day, the wind was pushing eastward, which had little to no effect on the wind readings. However, when it started blowing south, times in events like the 200-meter dash were disqualified since wind readings of up to seven meters per second were much higher than the allowable limit of two meters per second.

The first dip into CSU history came on the second and final day of the meet, Saturday, April 23. In two consecutive men’s short sprint events, a couple top five all-time records were set in the 110-meter hurdles and the 100-meter dash. Andrew Doctor ran a personal best time of 13.96 seconds, taking the victory in the 110-meter hurdles and improving from ninth to third on the CSU all-time list.

Shortly after, Jack Cauble ran the 100-meter dash in 10.46 seconds, a new personal record that earned him not only the victory in the event but the new fifth spot on the CSU all-time list. Continuing with the theme of men’s sprinting domination, Tom Willems won the 400-meter dash with a time of 46.46 seconds.

1⃣ – 2⃣ – 3⃣

Men’s 400m
1. Tom Willems, 46.46; PR, Stays 4th in CSU History
2. Adam Stark, 47.77; PR, 20th in CSU History
3. DeVon Washington, 47.86#OutdoorRams pic.twitter.com/a1WXYMyRmd

— Colorado State T&F/XC (@CSUTrackFieldXC) April 23, 2022

Right before the 110-meter hurdles event, John Fulton and his family made a special appearance on the track in honor of his father, Fritz Fulton. Fritz Fulton was a CSU alumnus who competed for CSU’s track team from 1985-89 and specialized in the hurdle events. He then was a coach for many high school track teams around Colorado before he passed away this past February from cancer. The event was named the Fritz Fulton Memorial men’s 110-meter hurdles race in his honor.

Later in the day, both the men and women dominated the 800-meter run. Lauren Offerman ran a new personal record of 2 minutes, 15.22 seconds in the event, which was good enough for first place. On the men’s side, the Rams took home the top three finishes. Ryan Birkmeier, Cameron Ross and Dawson LaRance, respectively, all finished within a second of each other to sweep the two-lap event.

As the Mountain West Conference championship meet looms less than three weeks away, the Rams will be looking to buckle down and focus on their shot at consecutive men’s outdoor championships and the first women’s outdoor title since 2019. 

The Rams’ next competition will be the last one before conference competition and will take place at California State University, Fresno for the Fresno State Invitational April 29-30.

Reach Braidon Nourse at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @BraidonNourse.