COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Audrey Bloomquist and Missy Moreni spent a lot of time on the track at Vigilante Stadium as Helena Capital Bruins. Now Bloomquist and Moreni are members of the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs Mountain Lions track and field team and breaking records early in their college careers.
In their first-ever outdoor meet, Bloomquist set the school record in the triple jump with a mark of 11.89 meters (39 feet, 0.25 inches) and Moreni the school record in the 110-meter hurdles in a time 14.58 seconds, and neither could believe that they actually did it.
“I saw my jump and I was like, 'No way, Hannah (Meeks) definitely has the record.' Like, I just didn't even think about it. And then our coach always sends out the emails and it was like, 'School record: Audrey Bloomquist.' I literally almost emailed him back like, 'No, this is a mistake,'” Bloomquist said as Moreni chuckled.
“My coaches casually texted me like, 'Oh, that was a school record,' and I was like, 'Oh, what?' It was definitely a shock to me too,” said Moreni.
Though the two competed with one another at Capital, going to UCCS together wasn’t always in the cards. It kind of just worked out that way according to both.
“I just remember Missy calling me in my dorm and she's like, 'Audrey, I'm trying to decide,' and I hope I talked her into it. I say kind of helped talk to her and do it, I don't know," Bloomquist said as both laughed. "Definitely not planned, but it worked out great.”
“I always joke that I like couldn't be on a track team without (Bloomquist) and stuff," laughed Moreni. "She told me all about the program and stuff. ... It just kind of worked out this way where I got to come in, be on the same team once again with Audrey. And yeah, it's been a lot of fun.”
And though the two currently hold school records in their events, Bloomquist feels like they could get to the biggest stage in college track and field sooner rather than later.
“It would be attainable for both of us to try to go to nationals this year for outdoor, so I think working towards that is also an exciting goal. Eventually, I'd like to go to nationals,” said Bloomquist.
Bloomquist, a redshirt freshman, has been in Colorado Springs for nearly two years, and Moreni, a true freshman, started with the team in August of 2020 and said even though they're a little more than 850 miles away there's still some love in their hearts for Big Sky Country.
"Montana will always be home to me. And every time I get to talk about it, I'll talk about Montana for like hours. I think moving here made me appreciate it a lot," said Moreni.
"I think we've taken Montana for granted, but we're reminded constantly of the amazing community that we have back home," said Bloomquist. "We wouldn't be here without kind of that family and the homegrown kind of environment that we grew up in."
Bloomquist and Moreni will be back in action on April 9 and 10 at the Maverick Multi and Open at Colorado Mesa University.
