Howell breaks 5K record
Over the weekend, Utah State’s track and field team traveled to its last round of competition before heading to the indoor WAC championship meet next week.
The team split up in three different locations: Nampa, Idaho, for the Boise State Team Challenge, Seattle, for Washington’s Husky Classic, and Albuquerque, N.M., for the Don Kirby Elite Invitational.
“We had a lot of great performances,” said head coach Gregg Gensel, who attended the Don Kirby Elite Invitational. “Several of our athletes had either season bests or all-time bests, which is awesome.”
Overall, 1 Aggies attained their best marks of the season, and the team brought home 15 top-10 finishes.
Sonia Grabowska won the pole vault by clearing a height of 4.05 meters at the Boise State Team Challenge. Sam Nielsen and Julia Stewart claimed third and fifth places, respectively, in the long jump at Boise.
On the mens’ side, senior Damian Szade placed second in the long jump. Sophomore Kenny Hamlett cleared a height of 1.84 meters in the high jump to tie his season record in a tie for sixth place.
Junior Jon Goble also brought home a sixth-place finish in the 60-meter hurdles with a personal-best time of 8.50 seconds. Senior Phillip Noble and junior Jordan McMurray followed up closely by taking seventh and ninth places, respectively.
At Washington’s Husky Classic, one notable athlete was Dan Howell, who broke his own school record in the 5,000-meter run, setting a new time of 14 minutes, 2.25 seconds.
Notable performances from Albuquerque were had by sprinters Silas Pimentel and Katelyn Heiner.
Pimentel ran a season best in the 60 with a time of 6.78 seconds and an all-time best in the 200 with 21.31. Heiner ran a personal best in the 400 with 55.09.
Looking ahead to the Western Athletic Conference Championships held in Nampa, Idaho, from Feb. 23-25, Gensel said the team is ready, and he is excited to see what the Aggies can do.
“We’re just going to practice every day and work hard,” he said. “Everything we’ve done competition-wise is preparing us for that. We’re just getting into stride for what we want to accomplish there.”
Full meet results can be found on the Universtiy Athletics website.
– ali.davis@aggiemail.usu.edu