PUEBLO, Colorado — The first event on day two of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships saw a quartet of Fort Lewis freshmen take the track for the 3,000 meter steeplechase, and Ethan Bartlett cut a half-minute off his previous best to place 14th with a time of 10:05.79.

"Ethan ran really strong. He's going to be a great steeplechaser over the next few years," Coach Josh Coon said.

Max Robinson showed even greater improvement since the four frosh qualified for the event a little over a week ago at the University of New Mexico. He cut a nearly 50 seconds from his time in Albuquerque to finish 18th with a mark of 10:26.90.

Braedon Sitmann dropped almost 20 seconds to clock a 10:32.00 and finish 19th and Nicholas Weber finished in 10:53.17 to take 21st.

"Max, Braedon and Nick are going to be tough as well. All of them are freshmen, and they are young and hungry. They also have the work ethic to be great," Coon said.

The only other Skyhawks' entry on Saturday was David Moenning in the prelims of the 800 meter run, and the Durango High School alum missed a spot in tomorrow's finals by only 1/100th of a second. He wound up placing 10th with a season best time of 1:53.90.

"David ran a really solid 800 meter today. He put up a season best, and only missed the finals by a hair," Coon said.

After a long racing hiatus, the coach expressed pleasure with how far Moenning has progressed this spring, and he is even happier with the impact the redshirt sophomore has had on the squad.

"He was out of running for two and a half years, and this is an impressive comeback," Coon said. "He's been great for our team and our culture, and he's just getting started."

The Skyhawks will finish up the RMAC Championships with a pair of entries in the 5,000 meter run tomorrow. Redshirt junior John Ngaruiya and redshirt sophomore Steven Nez will be looking to put Fort Lewis on the scoreboard in their final race of the season.