The end of the collegiate indoor track and field season is near, and six athletes from Fort Lewis College will be representing the Skyhawks at the 2026 NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships.
Brady Burrough, freshman Eliana Angelino, senior Hannah Hartwell, senior Alliyah Molina, sophomore Janaya Mancell and freshman Caroline Laughlin will compete against the best in the country at Norfolk State University in Virginia Beach on March 13-14.
The Skyhawks competed in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championships on Friday and Saturday on the campus of Western Colorado in Gunnison, with the Skyhawks men finishing 11th out of 12 schools and the women finishing 10th out of 14 schools.
“On the men’s distance side, we just crushed it across the board,” FLC men’s track and field head coach Dalton Graham said. “I was super pleased with it.”
Burrough, a senior, becomes the first men’s individual to make the national indoor championship in program history. He finished third in the mile in four minutes and 16.57 seconds at the RMAC Championships. Jon Sweepe from CSU Pueblo won in 4:11.85 and Harrison Boyd from Adams State finished second in 4:12.75. Sophomore Brody Hubbard finished sixth in the mile for the Skyhawks in 4:19.70.
“He’s been really coming on lately as our leader on the mid-distance side of things,” Graham said about Burrough. “He has some really quality range. He’s a varsity guy in our 10-kilometer and cross-country, he’s a record holder in the 800 and potentially the fastest 400 guy on the team right now if he were to race it.”
Hartwell didn’t compete in the RMAC Championships in the women’s 3000-meter and 5000 races, but had the times to make nationals. She did compete on FLC’s Distance Medley Relay team with Angelino, Mancell and Laughlin, finishing fourth in 12:06.07. Adams State won in 1:50.05, CSU Pueblo was second in 11:55.25 and Western Colorado finished third in 11:57:50.
FLC women’s track and field head coach Gracen Key thinks Hartwell has a shot of winning the 5K at nationals, and she thinks Hartwell can finish in the top eight in the 3K. The key for Hartwell will be confidence, as Key said Hartwell feels like an imposter when she’s competing with the best in the country.
The Skyhawk DMR team of Molina, Mancell, Laughlin and Angelino will compete at nationals.
Angelino will also compete in the 800 at nationals. She finished third at the conference championships in the 400 in 56.57. Amoya Jameison finished first from New Mexico Highlands in 55.53, followed by Kammi Merritt in second from Colorado Mesa in 55.69.
“She's become so much more open-minded to trying new things and trusting us as coaches, in our decisions,” Key said.
Key has been impressed with Angelino’s pain tolerance, racing multiple events every weekend and still maxing out her effort in every one. She’s also been super consistent with her times this season.
Other notable results at the RMAC Indoor Track & Field Championship include Molina’s second-place finish in the women’s 5000 in 17:46.62, only behind Kseniya Nikanorov from UCCS in 17:45.52.
Molina came into the race ranked fifth in the conference, according to Key. She stayed with the pack for the first 3K, but with 10 laps to go, Molina went off the front. Molina was looking strong, but Nikanorov caught up a few laps later and pulled away for the win.
“I'm really proud of her for believing that she could win because it was a conscious decision for her to move away from the group,” Key said about Molina. “It was really great. It was super fun ... That's the Alliyah we've been expecting this whole time. It's really great to see herget that normal confidence that she had before she came to Fort Lewis.”
On the men’s side, junior Elijah Smith finished eighth in the men’s 3K in 8:39.88. Junior Zachery Gaumont advanced to the men’s 60 final, but pulled his hamstring in the process. Gaumont missed the final, but Graham thinks he should be back early in the outdoor track season.
Sophomore Armando Fuentes finished fifth in the men’s 800 in 1:55.10. He was also a part of the 4x400 relay team with Burrough, sophomores Payton Whitehead and Brody Hubbard that finished eighth in 3:27.70.
The FLC women’s 4x400 team of Mancell, senior Josie Coulter, Angelino and freshman Lily Vertrees finished fifth in 4:00.47.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
