KINGSVILLE, Texas (May 25, 2019) – All five members of the Colorado State University-Pueblo men’s and women’s track and field programs who raced Saturday earned First Team All-American honors, while Thomas Staines (Jr., Colorado Springs, Colo.) won his fifth national title on the final day of the 2019 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Kingsville, Texas. The men tied for 10th, while the women tied for 39th.
Staines won his second NCAA Division II Outdoor Championship in the 800m, which was his fourth straight title in the event (twice an indoor champion). He has five national championships to his name after anchoring the distance medley relay team to the top of the podium at this year’s indoor championships.
Staines posted a time of 1:50.03 to gather 10 team points for the Pack. The ThunderWolves finished with 22 points to finish in a tie for 10th.
The men also tied for 10th at the NCAA Division II Indoor Championships, while the top 10 placement is the fifth in program history among indoor or outdoor championship appearances (NCAA and NAIA). The ThunderWolves fell just shy of the 1967 outdoor team that recorded 25 points and the highest finish at seventh.
Adding three points in the 800m was senior Devundrick Walker, as he crossed the finish line in 1:51.44 to place sixth. He finishes his senior year collecting a national championship with the DMR and indoor and outdoor First Team All-American honors in the 800m run.
The other nine points came from junior Marcelo Laguera (Chihuahua, Mexico), as he followed up his runner-up performance in Thursday’s 10,000m run with an All-American effort in the 5000m race Saturday. He scored one point when he crossed the finish line in eighth with a time of 14:34.51.
The women tied for 39th with five points, which is the program’s best outdoor national championship finish in the NCAA Division II era. The 2011 team finished 46th with four points. The indoor squad posted a 12th-place finish to secure the best performance in program history at a national championship.
Sophomore Yasmine Hernandez (Johnstown, Colo.) scored four points when she raced to fifth with a time of 2:10.50. She gathered First Team All-American recognition for the second time in her career, as she was a member of the women’s distance medley relay team that placed fourth at the indoor championships.
Sophomore Hailey Streff (Madison, S.D.) raced to eighth in the 1500m to earn All-American honors. She posted a time of 4:38.54 to earn her second time on the podium this year, as she was also a member of the DMR. The sophomore ran the 19th fastest time in the event this year, was ranked 13th in the championships field and was 12th out of the qualifying group, but raced to finish eighth in the end.
