GREELEY, Colo. -- April 3, 2017 -- Both Chadron State College track and field teams piled up lots of points Sunday during the Tom Benish Invitational Meet at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley.

The Chadron State men scored 135 points while finishing just two points behind Colorado State University at Fort Collins in the team standings. Meet host Northern Colorado scored 186 points and Colorado State 169.5 to finish one-two in the women's team results, but the Eagles were third among the seven teams with 121.5.

CSC head coach Brad Gamble said the meet, which was the first of the outdoor season for many of his team members, was a good one.  He said at least half them had a career-best mark in at least one event, something he wasn't expecting so early in the season.   

Chadron State senior Mel Herl, a native of Eaton, Colo., just a few miles from Greeley, won both the shot put and discus and improved her own Chadron State records in both the discus and hammer throw, where she placed third.

Herl's new discus record is 174-4, breaking the mark of 170-0 that she used to place fourth at the NCAA Division II National Championships in 2015. That distance is fifth in NCAA Division II following the weekend's events.  She threw the hammer 195-9, some 3.5 feet farther than the school record she set while winning the event at the University of Colorado's Jerry Quiller Classic two weeks ago. Herl's new mark in the hammer throw is an automatic NCAA qualifier and is No. 3 in the nation currently.

Herl's winning shot put mark of 50-2 put her over the 50-foot mark for the first time outdoors and ranking her No. 4 in the country.  She won the Division II National Indoor Meet's shot put title in mid-March with a throw of 51-9 that is Chadron State's school record.

Another highlight for the CSC women Sunday saw two-time national indoor long jump champion Stachia Reuwsaat win that event by a foot while going 19-10 ¾ to leap to third on the national lists. She also was second in the 100 meters in 11.82 seconds and ranks sixth in Division II.

In addition, Reuwsaat anchored the second place 4x100 relay team whose time of 47.61 is fourth best all-time for the women's program.  The other runners were Tessa Gorsuch, BrookLynn York and Cassie Johnson.

Distance coach Brian Medigovich  was happy with the times posted by a majority of his proteges.  He was particularly pleased that Nicky Banzhaf, competing for the first time since breaking a bone in her foot near the end of the 2016 outdoor season, placed second in the 1500 and third in the 5000.  

It was a particularly good day for senior Alejandro Garcia.  He won the 1500 meters and then was taken to Denver International Airport to catch an airplane so he can be among the recipients of the NCAA Elite 90 Awards honored at Monday night's NCAA Division I National Basketball Championship Game in Phoenix.

The Pine Bluffs, Wyo., native received the Elite 90 Award last fall for having the highest cumulative grade point average among the qualifiers at the Men's National Cross Country Championships in Florida.

Two more CSC runners, Levi Avila and Eric Yager, placed second and fifth, respectively, in the 1500 on Sunday.

The Chadron State men's 4x100 relay team made up of Cory Salitrik, Karlos Logan, Matt Klein and Andre Woodson won the 4x100-meter relay at the UNC meet.  Woodson also placed third in the 100 meters in 10.67 seconds.

The CSC men also scored an array of points in several field events.  Cory Martens was the runner-up in both the hammer throw and discus.  He sailed the discus 170 feet even, the fourth-best mark all-time for a CSC male and the 10th-best in the nation this season. In addition, Jesse Bleidt was fifth in both the discus and hammer throw and Blake Jacobs was third in the shot put and sixth in the hammer.

The Eagles also did well in both the long and triple jumps.  Dez Smith was the runner-up in the triple jump by going 46-7 ½ and Kahlil James was fourth in both events. Two more CSC men also placed in the long jump.   

The team scores, event winners and CSC placings follow:

Women's Events
                Team scores—1, Northern Colorado, 186; 2, Colorado State-Fort Collins, 169.5; 3, Chadron State, 121.5; 4, Black Hills State, 101; 5, University of Colorado-Boulder, 36; 6, Wyoming, 36; 7, Montana State-Billings, 20.
                100—1, Moriah Zachary, NC, 11.69; 2, Stachia Reuwsaat, CSC, 11.82; 8, BrookLynn
 York, CSC, 12.48.
                200—1, Moriah Zachary, NC, 24.01.
                400—1, Emily Romo, CSU, 54.58; 5, Alisha Heelan, CSC, 59.16; 8. Sierra Martinez, CSC, 1:00.12.
                800—1, Cammy Sargent, NC, 2:09.34.
                1500—1, Rikki Gonzales, NC, 4:41.28; 2, Nicky Banzhaf, CSC, 5:02.12.
                5000—1, Shelby Stolz, BHSU, 18:37.81; 3, Nicky Banzhaf, CSC, 19:05.32; 4, Taylor Allison, CSC, 19:08.56; 5, Maggie Vinton, CSC, 19:16.78.
                100 hurdles—1, Janay Soukup, unatt, 13.19; 3, Tessa Gorsuch, CSC, 14.19.
                400 hurdles—1, Emma Kratzberg, CSU, 1:01.33; 6, Alyssa Valko, CSC, 1:07.30.
                3000 steeplechase—1, Christine Thorn, BHSU, 11:15.78.
                4x100 relay—1, Northern Colorado, 45.45; 2, Chadron State (Tessa Gorsuch, BrookLynn York, Cassie Johnson, Stachia Reuwsaat), 47.61.
                4x400 relay—1, Northern Colorado, 3:50.15.
                Shot put—1, Mel Herl, CSC, 50-2; 6, Danielle Weyer, CSC, 39-3 ¼; 7, Ashton Hallsted, CSC, 38-6.
                Discus—1, Mel Herl, CSC, 174-4 (school record).
                Hammer throw—1, Linnea Jonsson, CSU, 200-8; 3 Mel Herl, 195-9 (school record).
                Javelin throw—1, Delaney Hall, Colorado, 145-6; 2, Ashlyn Hanson, CSC, 124-7.
                Long jump—1, Stachia Reuwsaat, CSC, 19-10 ¾; 6, Chasidy Horton, CSC, 18-2 ½.
                Triple jump—1, Juliette Cossey, NC, 39-6 ½.
                High jump—1, McKenzie Wright, CSU, 5-7; 6-7 tie, Haley Gallagher, CSC, 5-1.
                Pole vault—1, Aliya Simpson, CSU, 11-7 ¾; 4, Tory Snyder, CSC, 10-8; 6, Haley Gallagher, CSC, 10-2; 7, Courtney Anderson, CSC, 10-2.

Men's Results
                Team scores—1, Colorado State, 137; 2, Chadron State, 135; 3, Northern Colorado, 114; 4, Black Hills State, 109; 5, Montana State-Billings, 58; 6, Colorado, 52; 7, Wyoming, 49.
                100—1, Sam Zook, MS-B, 10.46; 3, Andre Woodson, 10.67; 5, Karlos Logan, CSC, 10.73.
                200—1, Duane McClurkin, Colo, 21.15; 7, Cody Davis, CSC, 23.00; 8. Cory Salitrik, CSC, 23.02.
                400—1, Duane McClurkin, Colo., 47.17; 8, Justin Leman, CSC, 50.68.
                800—1, Evan Keely, NC, 1:55.45; 7, Levi Avila, CSC, 1:59.16; 8, Alejandro Garcia, CSC, 1:59.77.
                1500—1, Alejandro Garcia, CSC, 4:01.69; 2, Levi Avila, CSC, 4:07.89; 5, Eric Yager, CSC, 4:10.43.
                3000 steeplechase—1, Jonah Theisen, BHSU, 9:34.29; 7, Kyle Dietsch, CSC, 10:19.30.
                5000—1, Nathan Fredrick, BHSU, 15:38.03; 5, Eric Yager, CSC, 15:59.05; 8, Dylan Stansbury, CSC, 16:04.62.
                110 hurdles—1, Brendan Ames, unatt, 13.70; 5, Justin Leman, CSC, 14.88.
                400 hurdles—1, Tristan Hepp, BHSU, 54.02; 5, Brandon Schwenk, CSC, 59.88.
                4x100 relay—1, Chadron State (Cory Salitrik, Karlos Logan, Matt Klein, Andre Woodson), 41.68.
                4x400 relay—1, Northern Colorado, 3:21.33; 4, Chadron State, 3:27.47.
                Shot put—1, Alex Blaho, CSU, 56-4 ¾; 3, Blake Jacobs, CSC, 52-2 ½; 6, Cory Martens, CSC, 51-6 ½.
                Discus—1, Casey Malone, unatt, 178-10; 2, Cory Martens, CSC, 170-0; 5, Jesse Bleidt, CSC, 155-5.
                Hammer throw—1, Damon Unland, Wyo, 191-6; 2, Cory Martens, CSC, 184-5; 5, Jesse Bleidt, CSC, 172-6; 6, Blake Jacobs, CSC, 171-6.
                Javelin throw—1, Beau Ackerman, MSU-B, 180-9; 4, Jack Gibbens, CSC, 158-8.
                Long jump—1, Dalten Fox, CSU, 22-9; 4, Kahlil James, CSC, 21-10 ¾; 6, Jack Gibbens, CSC,  21-2; 7, Justin Leman, CSC, 20-11 ¼.
                Triple jump—1, Scott Carter, Wyo, 52 ¾; 2, Dez Smith, CSC, 46-7 ½; 4, Kahlil James, CSC, 46-3 ½.
                High jump—1, Trenton Wallace, CSU, 6-6 ¾.
                Pole vault—1, Bryce Boser, BHSU, 14-3 ¼.