Aggies snowed out
BYU-Idaho, Montana State University, Southern Utah University and Weber State University came to Logan Saturday for the Mark Faldmo Invitational.
So did the rain and snow.
“It’s unfortunate that we had to have bad weather,” Head Coach Gregg Gensel said. “But at least it held off long enough that we could get some good performances in.”
Before the meet was canceled around 2 p.m., the Aggies were able to win seven individual titles in their only home track meet of the season.
Both the men’s and women’s teams won the pole vault with Maurice Jenkins (16’6.0″) and Shae Bair (12’6.0″) leading the competition.
The sprinters on both teams competed strongly as Dwayne Foster won the 100-meter dash (10.70 seconds), Brett Guymon earned first in the 110 hurdles (14.50) and Kristi Connors led in the 400 (56.02).
Other first-place finishers for the Aggies were Demetrio Cabanillas in the long jump (22’9.75″) and Kristen Coombs in the 800 (2:14.78).
“I’m excited that our people competed so well,” Gensel said. “I didn’t hear one of my athletes say ‘This is too cold. I don’t want to do this.'”
Other top-finishers on the men’s side were Scott Bell, who took third in the 110 hurdle; Taylor Howe, who took third in the 400; and Josh Sides, who took third in the hammer throw.
Sides said he didn’t like competing in the snow.
“It wasn’t a good day because it was raining and snowing,” he said. “I’m done with this. I’m going to go home and put some dry socks on. It rained on us last year, and it’s worse this year.”
Dave Kunnas earned fourth in the 1,500, Jose Avalos took fourth in the 3,000 steeple chase and Doug Tanner finished fifth in the 800.
On the women’s side Kathleen Hobbs earned second in the 100, Heather Smith took second in the 100 hurdles, Katie Farner earned second in the javelin and Christi Howell earned fifth in the 1,500. In the 3,000 steeple, Melanie McClellan took second, Sharee Hatch earned fourth and Shae Messersmith finished fifth.
As the snow was coming down after the 800 competition, it was decided to take a 30-minute break to see if the weather would let up.
The 5,000 was the next scheduled event, and about 20 minutes into the break it was announced the 5,000 “skiers” should be ready to compete in 10 minutes.
Amber Tubb was scheduled to run the 5,000.
“There’s no way I’m going to be able to run,” she said. “I kind of wanted to, but I’m sure there’s only a few minutes left before they cancel the meet.”
In the meantime, Aggie Steve Prescott was taking advantage of the snow on the track and making a snowman.
“I’ve never gotten to throw a snowball after running the 800 before,” he said. “I’ve got to take advantage of the snow while it’s here.”
Gensel said the possibility of inclement weather troubled him.
“I worried about the weather all week,” he said. “I watched the weather. I worried about it all last night. I woke up this morning and worried about the weather, and I worried about it all day.”
Gensel said he was pleased with how the team competed despite the weather.
“The weather was good enough to have some good performances but not good enough to have great performances,” he said. “Even though it got snowed out, we had some gutsy performances.”
At the Cal/Nevada Heptathlon/Decathlon Meet in Sacramento, Calif., Wednesday and Thursday, Joel Johnson and Brad Bair finished first and second with 7,586 and 6,911 points, respectively.
Johnson’s finish was best in school history and was good enough to qualify for the NCAA Championships in Baton Rouge, La., in May.
Bair’s mark was fifth in school history.
In addition to winning the meet, Johnson set five personal bests in the shot put, discus, javelin, 110 hurdles and 400.
Bair also set personal records in the long jump, discus, pole vault, 100 hurdles and 400.
The meet had multi-eventers from Chico State University, Eastern Washington University, Sacramento State University, UC Santa Barbara, UC Davis, the University of Nevada and Utah State.
The Aggies will next compete Saturday at the Micron Invitational in Boise, Idaho.