Lifferth sets school record for USU
The Aggie track team continued its preparation for the conference meet this weekend, sending runners to two different meets and turning in personal bests, conference-leading times and one school record.
“I’m just excited to see these kids perform,” Head Coach Gregg Gensel said. “One of the things that keeps me in this business is to see them improve on their bests and get better each week.”
On Saturday at the Husky Invitational at the University of Washington, senior Stacie Lifferth set a school record in the 3,000 meter with a time of 9:51.99, breaking a record that had stood since 1992.
Fellow senior, Jennifer Twitchell, came close to setting a school record in the mile at the Husky Invitational, running a 4:49.18, a personal best. The time was the fastest mark in the WAC this year.
The Aggies also excelled at the Boise State Invitational.
“A lot of people ran the way I’d like them to run,” Gensel said. “I really like to see them perform well, and that’s what they did this weekend.”
Sophomore Chase Richins led the Aggies to a sweep of the men’s 60-meter hurdles. Richins turned in a personal-best time of 8.25. He was followed by Scott Bell and Logan Moore, who posted times of 8:36 and 8:37 respectively.
The Aggies also captured the men’s 4×400 meter relay with a time of 3:14.32, which was good for second place in school history.
Also, Kevin Lui won the men’s shot put with a distance of 16.30 meters.
But the Aggie men weren’t the only ones to have success in Boise.
Amber Peterson won the 60-meter hurdles and the 200-meter dash. Peterson had a personal best 24.93 in the 200.
Freshman Ashlee Cannon finished behind Peterson in third place in the 60-meter hurdles and the 200. Cannon posted a time of 8.86 in the 60-meter hurdles, which was put her in third place in the record books.
The Aggies’ next meet will be the WAC Indoor Championships in Boise, Idaho. Competition begins on Thursday, Feb. 22.
Gensel said he is excited about the upcoming conference meet, and he said the team will be ready.
“Our whole thing with coaching is to gradually get better as the year goes on and to run the best in the conference meets. That’s what we aim for,” Gensel said.
Other Aggies turning in good performances this weekend included:
Senior Dasheek Akwenye, who posted a conference-leading time of 48.20 in the 400-meters, the seventh-fastest time in USU history.
Senior DJ Smith, who finished second in the 60 and 200 meter dashes. Smith ran a 22.04 in the 200 meters, the fourth-fastest time ran in the conference this year.
Senior Amy Egan, who finished second to Twitchell in the mile. Egan ran a 4:50.55, good for second in the conference this year.
Freshman Tony Jones, who finished fifth at the Husky Invitational in the 3,000-meter run with a lifetime best mark of 8:29.77.
-dabaker@cc.usu.edu