Track wins 16 titles in first home meet
Utah State track and field teams captured a total of 16 victories at the Fieldhouse Saturday in the Aggies’ first home meet of the season.
“Coming back from Air Force we had a lot of people who were discouraged with the way they performed,” said USU Head Coach Gregg Gensel. “I think today will show them that they’re really where they should be. This should give them some confidence to build on and keep going.”
In all, the meet, which featured athletes from BYU, Utah, Utah Valley State College and Southern Utah, saw six USU men and eight women run off with individual titles. Both the Aggie men and women claimed first place in their respective 4×400 relays.
“It is wonderful to be at home,” said distance runner Michael Nelson. “We only have two or three meets here each year. Your family and friends get to come out and we always step it up for the home meets. When people come in here we want to let them know who the boss is.”
Nelson was one of three Aggie distance runners to take home titles for the men, capturing first place in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 8:28.98. Sophomore Craig Brown won the 800 meters in 1:56.54 and junior David Daney captured the title in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 15:00.69.
“At the beginning of the season I just try to be relaxed for half the race and then push it for the second half,” Nelson said. “Near the end of the season you start hard and finish harder.”
Freshman Diana Skabelund won the 400 -meter dash with a personal best of 59.77. And in the second leg of the women’s 4×400 meters Skabelund overtook the competition and cemented the race for the Ags.
Skabelund said she was “excited” and pleased with her progress from week to week.
“This competition was just to see where we’re at and what level we can compete at,” Skabelund said.
Freshman sprinter Becky Tueller continued to do well in competition, winning the 60 with a time of 7.70. Other women runners taking home titles included: junior Sarah Dimick in the 800 (2:22.47), freshman Ashley Johnson in the 3,000 (10:32.62), and freshman Amy Egan, who ran the mile in 5:11.66.
In the non-running events Lacy Schroeder cleared 5-06.00 to win the high jump and sophomore pole vaulter Alana Geisler won with a mark of 11-09.75. Sophomore Kelli Burton won the shot put with a distance of 50-04.00.
Coming off a victory last week at Air Force, weight thrower Ryan Bruhn took home another title and set a new personal best with a distance of 63-feet-11 inches.
“You can win track meets and not throw well,” Bruhn said. “But you can never feel bad about the best performance you’ve ever had. Right now, I feel like I can keep going harder. I don’t think I’ve hit a plateau at all.”
Freshman Brad Martin won the men’s 400 with a time of 50.33 for the Ags and junior Justin Wickard won the 60-meter hurdles in 8.15.
“I did the technical things that I wanted to do,” Wickard said. “I’m not too worried about my time just yet. The technical stuff will be what helps me in the long run.”
In all, 15 USU athletes came away with results that qualified for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships held later this year.
“The [personal records] and the conference qualifiers are the ones that most impress me,” Gensel said. “It’s still pretty early in the season. The national meet isn’t until March, so we’re on schedule with where we should be.”
Utah State will travel to Pocatello, Idaho for their next meet on Feb. 6.
“I’m really happy with our team,” Wickard said. “We’re looking strong this year. If we just keep improving and doing the little things we’re going to do pretty good.”
“Our home meet is a time when we like to showcase what we have,” Gensel said. “The athletes came to perform and we had a lot of great performances all the way across the board. I expect that we’ll just continue to improve from here.”
-acf@cc.usu.edu