GUNNISON, Colo. – Chadron State College standouts Chayton Bynes and Camila Salvucci won the gold medals in the triple jumps and Chadron State also earned two silver medals and three bronze medals over the two-day Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships that concluded Saturday in Gunnison, Colorado.

Other than the two triple jump event wins, the men's 4x400 relay team were silver medalists to go along with Shelby Ekwall's second place in the women's shot put from Friday while two members of that relay team (Christopher Cormier and Ryan Clapper) came third in individual sprint events.

Bynes, a junior from Chadron, went 15.99 meters, or 52 feet and 5.5 inches, while not only winning the RMAC championship, but also setting an RMAC conference meet record. 

His mark Saturday was just an inch shy of his career-best in early February that put him atop the NCAA Division II standings for 2026. Bynes also had placed third in the long jump with a 23-foot mark on Friday to earn Chadron State's first bronze medal of the meet. 

Salvucci, a sophomore from Argentina, gave the Eagles a sweep of the triple jump golds when she won that crown with her career-best mark of 12.15 meters, or 39-feet, 10.5 inches. It's nine inches farther than her previous best and is less than two inches shy of Emily Volkmer's school record.

Ekwall, another sophomore, also had career-best throw of 14.07 meters (46 feet, 2 inches) while earning the silver medal for being the runner-up in the women's shot put Friday.

Late on Saturday's schedule, the CSC 4x400 relay team comprised of Christopher Cormier, Ryan Clapper, Kadin Perez and Ayden Hartzell also collected silvers while running their race in 3:19.23. Coach Jake Gruver said the team's high finish was one of the Eagles' weekend highlights.

Earlier in the day, both Cormier and Clapper had earned bronze medals by placing third in individual sprints. Cormier ran the 400 in 49.01 seconds and Clapper's time of 21.26 seconds is Chadron State's new 200-meter record, breaking the old mark of 21.59 set by Brodie Roden in 2020.

Just a freshman, Hartzell was only a half stride behind Clapper in the 200 while placing fourth in 21.71 seconds. That's now third on the Eagles' chart, behind only those belonging to Clapper and Roden. 

Chadron State had three more placewinners.  Sophomore Sydney Alles was seventh in the women's weight throw with a career-best mark of 52 feet even; freshman Gage Brooks was eighth in the triple jump at 45-6.5; and senior Esosa Iyengunmwena was eighth in the 200 meters in 22.31, giving the Eagles three placers in that event.

The Eagles had a setback early Saturday, when Courtney Williams hit a hurdle and was injured in the 60-meter hurdles, ending his impressive bid to win the heptathlon and potentially qualify for the national meet.

A freshman from Jamaica, Williams had built a substantial lead in the point total while placing in the top three in each of the four heptathlon events held on Friday.  

The Eagles also secured a win off the track when Madison Clause was named the Women's Indoor Track and Field Summit Award winner for having the highest GPA among conference meet qualifiers. Clause, a senior pole vaulter from Billings, Montana, has a perfect 4.0 GPA through 143 completed credit hours.

UCCS swept the team titles, with the Mountain Lions women scoring 157.5 points and the men 124. New Mexico Highlands was the women's runner-up with 76.5 points and Colorado School of Mines was second in the men's standings with 84. The Chadron State men were eighth with 43 points and the women 11^th with 20.

With several Division II conference meets around the country this weekend, Chadron State will finalize which of its athletes have made the cutoff to qualify for the NCAA national indoor meet early next week. The NCAA meet will take place in Virginia Beach, Virginia on March 13-14.