Track claims eight titles at home meet
Kelli Burton and Justin Wickard led the Utah State track and field team to eight victories in the Mark Faldmo Invitational, the only outdoor home meet for the Aggies, Saturday afternoon.
Both Burton and Wickard claimed victories in two events each, something Burton has done for a second week in a row. Burton won the shot put with a throw of 50-05.25 and the discus with a throw of 161-09.00.
“That is why we recruited her,” said Head Coach Gregg Gensel. “We knew she was a great athlete, and she is really working hard to make herself better.”
Off the field Wickard was able to take care of business by winning the 110-meter hurdle with a time of 14.23 seconds and the long jump with a distance of 22-11.75. Along with the two victories, Wickard also won third in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 52.41.
Along with Burton in the field events, Josh Sides, Neil Warr and Ryan Bruhn each placed first in their respective events.
In the shot put, Josh Sides won first with a throw of 59-11.00, in addition to placing second behind Bruhn in the hammer throw, who won with a throw of 203-02.00. In the hammer throw, Sides out-threw his personal record by 10 feet, while Bruhn almost matched his personal record.
In the javelin, Neil Warr won with a throw of 218-03.00, out-throwing second place by 14 feet. Saturday’s win gave Warr his third victory in four meets. Despite the victory, Warr was not pleased with his throwing.
“Right now, I’m basically competing against myself, and I don’t feel like I threw as well as I should have” Warr said.
But with or without the competition, the Aggies throwing team feels good about what they accomplished at Saturday’s meet, Sides said.
“I think our throwing team is doing great,” he said. “Everyone has really done their best and it shows with how well we are doing.”
In addition to the field events, the track team is also carrying its weight at the meets. Accompanying Wickard in his two wins was Christi Howell, who won the 5,000-meter run with a time of 18:00.61. Finishing behind Howell in second and third place was Tiffany Strickland (18:04.31) and Lida Clapier (18:16.56).
Overall, the women’s team finished with 11 top-three finishes. Among the top three finishers were Clapier, who also finished second in the 1,500-meter run (4:47.40), Katie Farner, finishing second in the long jump (17-06.75), and Candice Workman, who also finished second in the discus throw (156-05.00).
Finishing in third place for the women’s team was Emily Hillam in the 400-meter hurdles, the USU 4×400-meter relay team and Dayna Barrett in the triple jump.
The men’s side finished with 16 top-three finishes, 11 that were not first-place finishes. Among the men’s top-three finishers were Joel Johnson (14.58) and Dustin Vetica (14.75) who finished behind Wickard in the 110-meter hurdles. Vetica also finished second in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 52.33.
In the 200-meter dash, David Causse finished third (22.14), while Mike Nielson (3:52.04) and Mitch Zundel (3:55.61) finished second and third in the 1,500-meter run, and Clark Bryner finished second in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 15:17.00.
The USU men’s 4×400-meter relay also finished third, along with Rob Crockett, who finished third in the high jump with a height of 6-06.75.
USU felt good about its performance in its only home meet of the season, Gensel said, but still sees room for improvement.
“We had a lot of good performances today,” Gensel said. “We just need to keep getting better by learning from ourselves.”
The Aggies’ next opportunity for improvement will be at the Robinson Invitational at BYU, April 24 through 26 and the Oregon Invitational in Eugene, Ore., April 26.
-csmo@cc.usu.edu
JUMPER JARED OCANA makes a jump attempt Saturday at the Mark Faldmo Invite. He finished with a distance of 21-03.25.
AGGIE LACEY SCHROEDER attempts to clear the high jump bar Saturday at the Mark Faldmo Invitational. Schroeder cleared 5-03.00 to finish in a tie with teammate Chalise Withers for seventh in the event. (Photos by Scott Davis)