COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – While seven Chadron State College athletes placed at the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference's Indoor Track and Field Meet at Colorado Springs, Chadron State track and field was kept off the podium on the final day of the conference championships. 

Chadron State's three sprinters that qualified for finals on Friday all earned team points for the Eagles on Saturday. Senior Creighton Trembly finished fourth in the 60-meter hurdles in 8.21 seconds, sophomore Ryan Clapper was fifth in the 200 in 22.20 and junior Esosa Iyengunmwena was eighth in the 60 dash in 6.90.

Two high jumpers also placed after posting season-best marks. On the men's side, Keaton Mills went 6- ¼  to earn sixth place and on the women's side, junior Megan Baloun cleared 5- ½, good for seventh. 

The other two placings occurred on Friday, when seniors Christopher Jennings and Parker Gonser opened the meet by placing third and seventh, respectively, in the 35-pound weight throw with marks of 62-1 ¼ and 59-4. As it turned out, Jennings would be the only Chadron State athlete this year to earn a top-three finish, with many of the year's standouts coming up short. 

"If anything could go wrong, it happened to us," Head Coach Jake Gruver said. "It surely wasn't our strongest showing. We had too many things go wrong."

Freshman Camila Salvucci, who went to the conference meet with the league's third best mark of 12.03 meters (39-5 ¾), scratched on her first two jumps and jumped from well behind the board on her third attempt, finishing 13th. Chadron State also dropped the baton on its 4x400-meter relay.

Jumper Chayton Bynes, who entered the meet with the RMAC's best triple jump mark of 15.71 meters (51-6 ½) and the conference's third best long jump of 7.49 meters (24-7), ultimately did not compete in either event. A mix-up led to Bynes failing to check in prior to Friday's long jump, which led to him being removed from the start list for both his scheduled events. 

While Bynes didn't compete for an RMAC championship this year, the problems will not affect Bynes's eligibility at NCAA Indoor nationals in two weeks. Bynes's triple jump mark ranks second in Division II and his long jump mark is within the top 10 nationally as well. 

Chadron State fans may recall that in 2019, Californian Isaac Grimes was unable to triple jump at the RMAC Meet because of a hamstring injury, but ended up as the silver medalist in the event at the National Meet two weeks later when he set the school record of 51-8 ½.

Currently, the Eagle men's track and field athletes that have posted NCAA indoor provisional qualifying marks for nationals are Chayton Bynes in the triple jump (51-6½) and long jump (24-7), Creighton Trembly in the 60 hurdles (8.16), Ryan Clapper in the 200 (21.47) and Christopher Jennings in the weight throw (63-2 ¾).

Camila Salvucci is the only provisional qualifier among the Eagles' female athletes with her triple jump mark of 39-5 ¾. The national meet will take place in Indianapolis on March 14-15.

UCCS was the men's team champion while Colorado School of Mines won the women's RMAC title. The Chadron State men finished 10th with 20 team points while the women finished 13th with two points.

Below are the Eagles' top-eight placings:    
Men's Events
60—8, Esosa Iyengunmwena 6.90. (6.85 prelims)
200—5, Ryan Clapper, 22.20 (22.12 prelims)
60 hurdles—4, Creighton Trembly, 8.21 (8.17 prelims)
Weight throw—3, Christopher Jennings, 62-1 ¼; 7, Parker Gonser, 59-4.
High jump—6, Keaton Mills, 6- ¼
Women's Events
High jump—7, Megan Baloun, 5- ½