It was only four total qualifiers traveling from Colorado Mesa University to the 2016 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships, but it was a school-record four.
One of the Mavericks' "Final Four" was former Bayfield High School standout John Cusick.
He and the other athletes who attend school in Grand Junction began competition at the three-day meet May 26 in Bradenton, Florida.
Cusick ran on Day 1 in the first preliminary of the 1,500 meters as the event's #12 qualifier. The junior and CMU record-holder would ultimately place 19th (out of 20) with his time of 3:58.23.
Tarleton State University senior Chase Rathke won Heat 1 with a 3:53.79, and Adams State junior Oliver Aitchison-only a blink behind Roule in Heat 2-was nearest either initial effort with his 3:49.38.
In Heat #2, Simon Fraser University junior Marc-Antoine Roule ran a 3:49.32 to pace all, most especially the 12 finals-qualifying entrants.
Leading up to the 2015-16 season's grand finale, Cusick nearly saved his best for last-but lowered his CMU-best from 3:49.33, achieved in Spring '15, to 3:47.70 at Colorado School of Mines' Last Chance Meet on Friday, May 13, at the Orediggers' Stermole Track & Field Complex in Golden.
(Results on CSM's website show a 3:53.98, before adjusting for altitude and size/sort of track.)
At the 2016 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships, hosted May 6-8 in Spearfish, S.D., by Black Hills State University, Cusick-also the Mavs' indoor mile record-holder (4:09.33)-ran a seventh-best 3:54.90 in the 1,500 prelims but finished eighth in the final with a 3:57.50.
