VANCOUVER – A win by Mike Mason in the men's high jump highlighted a great day of track and field at the UBC Open in Vancouver on Saturday afternoon.

The former Thunderbird and NAIA champion cleared 2.28 metres, meeting the Olympic 'B' standard. To make the Olympic team, Mason must clear the 2.28 m mark once more, or jump 2.31 m (the 'A' standard), before the end of June and also make the top three at the National championships.

"I'm feeling really, really good," said Mason after his win. "This is just my second meet competing outdoors this year. The last one was last weekend in some pretty poor conditions so I'm quite excited that, just second meet out, I am able to get a 'B' standard."

"I'm using a new run-up approach that I haven't had in previous years and it seems to really be working. It's been a really big change for me."

Fellow Olympic hopeful and former T-Bird Inaki Gomez won the 5,000-metre men's race with a time of 20:31.29 while Evan Dunfee, another UBC graduate took silver, finishing in 20:54.39.

Another highlight for the home crowd at the Rashpal Dhillon Track and Field Oval was Erin Templeton's win in the women's triple jump.

She leaped a personal best 11.79 metres, which also qualifies her for the NAIA Outdoor Championships in May.

"I don't like leaving it to the end because there's more pressure. So it's nice to get it out of the way and focus on working on my technique and getting better without having to worry about qualifying," said Templeton.

UBC's Devan Wiebe took the win in the women's 400-metre dash after completing her race in a time of 59.64.

Thunderbird runner Luc Bruchet topped the field in the men's 3,000 metres in 8:42.28 on a day where high winds made conditions tough for long distance runners.

"After years of not having a competition here, it was a really nice show of track and field today," said UBC head coach Marek Jedrzejek. "We had almost 250 athletes competing and the stands were full so it was pretty good overall."

Jedrzejek's team will now prepare to compete in the Simon Fraser Emilie Mondor Spring Open, taking place next Saturday (Apr. 14) in Burnaby.