UTEP Men’s DMR Wins Gold, Pair of Weight Throwers Take Bronze on Day One at CUSA ITF Championships Friday in Lynchburg

2/28/2025 8:59:00 PM

DAY 1 RESULTS | DAY 2 HEAT SHEETS

LYNCHBURG, Va. – The UTEP men's distance medley relay team won a gold medal for the first time in eight seasons, while weight throwers Aleks Hristov and Esther Osisike took bronze, and multiple Miners qualified in the track preliminaries on the first day of competition at the 2025 Conference USA Indoor Track & Field Championships hosted by Liberty at the Liberty Indoor Track Complex on Friday.

The men's 4000-distance medley relay team comprising Juan Leal, Sebastian Avena, Maxwell Kipkosgei and Kenneth Talavera captured gold with a 10:04.06. Middle Tennessee (10:06.33) finished second and Liberty (10:10.71) was third. The Miners scored 10 points in the victory. It's the first men's DMR to win gold since 2017 when Daniel Cheruiyot, Alejandro Alcazar, Esteban Montanez and Jonah Koech clocked in a 10:03.04.

Esther Osisike started the day for the Miners with a bronze medal in the women's weight throw final and tallied six points in the process. The sophomore shattered her personal best with an 18.91-meter (62-0.25) toss. Osisike made a major leap after placing 19^th overall at last year's meet. She's the first Miner to medal in the event since 2011 when Terran Alexander took gold.

UTEP scored 11 points in the men's weight throw. Aleks Hristov took bronze in the men's weight throw with an 18.96-meter (62-2.25) hurl, tallying six points. Hristov medaled in the event for the first time since 2022 when he took silver.

"It was a typical, hard-fought, day one battle of the championship meet," UTEP Director of Track & Field Mika Laaksonen said. "We had our ups and downs. Qualified very well for the finals, especially in the women's side. No team champions crowned today, but we will get after it with everything we got tomorrow!"

Noah Jirgens finished fourth and scored five points with a personal-best throw of 18.14 meters (59-6).

Alla Parnov tallied two points, tying for sixth place in the women's pole vault final with a 3.80-meter (12-5.5) mark.

Samoya Neil scored two points in the women's long jump final with a 5.78-meter (18-11.5) leap.

Harrison Canfield scored a point with an eight-place finish in his first CUSA Championships meet. The transfer from Oregon turned in a 4.80-meter (15-8.75) leap.

The Miners raced to success in Friday's track preliminaries, qualifying for nine events on championship Saturday (men's mile, women's mile, men's 60-meter hurdles, women's 60-meter hurdles, men's 400, women's 400, women's 60-meter dash, men's 800-meter run and women's 200-meter dash).

The UTEP women will have four sprinters competing in Saturday's 60-meter and 200-meter dash finals each. Niesha Burgher, Marrisa Simpson and Rejoice Sule will see action in both events, while freshman Addison Stricklin will race in the 200 final and Denae McFarlane in the 60.

TRACK PRELIMINARIES RUN DOWN – FINALS ON SATURDAY
Men's Mile
4^th Kenneth Talavera (4:12.55)
6^th Juan Leal (PB 4:12.87)
Men's mile final: Noon MST/2 EST

Women's Mile
4^th Ruth Jerubet (4:55.43).
Women's mile final:12:10 p.m. MST/2:10 EST

Men's 60-meter hurdles
1^st Jordani Woodley (7.79)
7^th Amir Williams (8.02)
Men's 60H final: 12:30 p.m. MST/2:30 EST.

Women's 60-meter hurdles
2^nd Marissa Simpson (8.28)
Women's 60H final: 12:35 p.m. MST/2:35 EST.

Men's 400-meter dash
3^rd Julio Pacheco Estrada (47.86)
8^th Joshua Hill (48.30)
Men's 400 final: 12:45 p.m. MST/2:45 EST.

Women's 400-meter dash
4^th Princess Uche (54.64)
7^th Loubna Benhadja (55.07)
Women's 400 final: 12:55 p.m. MST/2:55 EST.

Women's 60-meter dash
1^st Niesha Burgher (7.30)
3^rd Rejoice Sule (tPB 7.40)
6^th Denae McFarlane (7.49)
8^th Marissa Simpson (PB 7.52)
Women's 60 final: 1:10 p.m. MST/3:10 EST.

Men's 800-meter run
7^th Maxwell Kipkosgei (1:52.59)
8^th Aron Tanui (1:53.53)
Men's 800 final: 1:20 p.m. MST/3:20 EST.

Women's 200-meter dash
1^st Niesha Burgher was first (23.05)
3^rd Rejoice Sule (23.71)
5^th Marissa Simpson (24.02)
6^th Addison Stricklin (24.06)
Women's 200 final: 1:45 p.m. MST/3:45 EST

TEAM SCORES
MEN (5 of 17 Events Scored)
Kennesaw State (53.5)
Liberty (34.5)
Middle Tennessee (31)
Sam Houston (22.5).
UTEP (22)
LA Tech (16)
WKU (14.5)

WOMEN (6 of 17 Events Scored)
Liberty (58)
FIU (45)
Kennesaw State (43)
Middle Tennessee (29)
Sam Houston (14)
Jax State (12)
UTEP (10)
NM State (10)
LA Tech (7)
WKU (6)

COMING UP
Saturday's combined events begin at 8:30 a.m. MST/10:30 EST, followed by the field events at 10 a.m. MST/12 EST and the track events at 12:00 p.m. MST/2 EST.

CUSA ITF CHAMPIONSHIPS INFORMATION:
Schedule | Live Results | Stream: ESPN+ (SATURDAY)

2025 UTEP INDOOR/OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD SCHEDULE

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