14 Aggies take firsts at track meeet
Utah State’s first and last home meet before May’s WAC Championships went well for the Aggies who took 14 events Saturday in the Mark Faldmo Invitational.
Nine of the 14 event wins came from the men’s side while five came from the USU women.
The winning women were Brittany Chadwick, Chalese West, Kimiko Kamo and Maria Halton for the 4×400 relay, Spela Hus in the women’s shot put, Alicia Holt from the 1,500m, Katie Thatcher in the 400m hurdles and Elaine Connolly in the 800m.
For the men it was Blake Hadfield in the long jump, Dusty Ott in the javelin, Steve Strickland in the steeplechase, Nick Karren in the 400m hurdles, Bryce Hall in the shot put, James Allred in the 800m, Mike Bills in the 5,000m, John Strang in the 110 hurdles and the 4x100m relay team.
“A home meet is a chance for our athletes to really show their stuff to family and friends who don’t get to see them when they travel and there is a lot of motivation in that,” said long-time USU head coach Gregg Gensel.
Three USU women finished with NCAA regional qualifying marks. Connolly in the 800m finished at 2:09.16, the second-fastest time in school history and a top time in the WAC, while Holt who finished the 1,500m in 4:44.06 and Krista Larson who got second in the hammer throw with a distance of 193-01.
Hus had a distance of 46-08.25 for her winning throw in the shot put and Thatcher finished the 400m hurdles in 1:00.84. The 4×100 woman’s relay team had a season-best finishing time of 46.60.
Allred’s time of 1:51.60 in the 800m is a personal best and a WAC-best time. Also finishing the day with a PR was freshman Hall who had a distance of 54-11.25 in the shot put.
Bills finished first in the 5,000m in his first event of the year at 16:28.21. Ott also won his event in his first event attempt of the season by throwing the javelin 180-07.
Adding to the day’s season best finishes was Strang who won the 110m hurdles with a season best time of 14.48, and Hadfield, whose long jump distance of 22-11.75 is a season high.
Nationally-ranked Strickland, No. 16 in the steeplechase, showed the home crowd his talent, clocking in at a time of 9:19.12, 31 seconds before the second place finisher.
Karren, who is also nationally ranked, No. 20, in the 400 hurdles had a time of 50.02.
John Johnson who was on the winning 4×100 relay team had a PR in the pole vault, clearing 16-00.00. Casey Parker also set a PR and hit the regional qualifying mark in the high jump by clearing 6-10.75.
“We had a lot of fun today,” said Robin’s Award Male Athlete of the Year John Strang after the meet. “It was a beautiful day, we had a good turn out and we performed well. With the WAC championship being here this year it was important for us to come out strong and get a feel for competition on our track. We’re really excited to host the championship meet and want as many fans as we can get to come give us support.”
The Aggies split up once again this week as the team travels to BYU for the Robinson Invitational and also to Berkeley for the Cal Berkeley Invitational.
–c.h.j@aggiemail.usu.edu