Track and field squads host Faldmo Invitational, records set
The USU track and field team had an exceptional home track meet over the weekend.
Utah State squared off against Weber State, BYU, Utah Valley and Utah’s women team for Saturday’s Mark Faldmo Invitational. The team performed well, with the men’s team winning 14 different events, and the women’s team picking up eight event wins.
“We had a lot of great performances today, all across the board,” said 26th year head coach Gregg Gensel.
The women team had many strong performances. Ashlee Cannon ran as an unattached runner for USU and finished well in all of her events. She had three first-place finishes, the first of which came in the 100m hurdles, where she crossed the line with a time of 13.79. In the 100m sprint, she also placed first and finished in 12.24. Her last first-place finish was in the 200m, where she ran for a time of 24.61.
Senior Elaine Connolly finished in second in the 400m, with a time of 56.22. In the 1500m, junior Erin Stratton finished first, with a time of 4:37.39.
Coach Gensel said, “She looked pretty good, especially for this altitude.”
Freshman Jessie Chugg came in second in the event, with a time of 4:43.88, and sophomore Kim Quinn finished third with a time of 4:44.85.
In the 3000m steeplechase, Utah State tabbed places second through fourth. Junior Justine Baugh was second, with a time of 12:24.29. Freshman teammates Julia Johnson and Jessi Timothy came in third and fourth, respectively, with times of 12:31.29 and 12:39.97. Sophomore Aimee Haertel was the lone runner in the women’s 5000m, and she crossed the line with a time of 19:59.06.
For the women’s field events, senior Shannon Prince had a great performance. She threw for a distance of 164-06 feet in the discus throw, placing her first and setting a personal record.
“She (Prince) had a PR today, which is great. It’s absolutely awesome,” Gensel said.
Prince finished second in the shot put, with a distance of 46-03.25 feet.
Junior Lindsey Spencer finished second in the hammer throw with a distance of 184-06 feet. In the shot put, sophomore Spela Hus placed first, with a distance of 46-10.75 feet. In the high jump, freshman Bri Campbell took first with a height of 5-05.00 feet. Freshman Lauren Gwilliam and sophomore Madison Jensen tied for second, with heights of 5-03.00 feet. Campbell finished second in the long jump, with a distance of 17-08.00 feet, and junior Camille Fehlberg was third with a distance of 16-10.00 feet. In the triple jump, sophomore Julia Stewart took first place, with a distance of 38-07.50 feet. In the pole vault, sophomore Sonia Grabowska took second place with a height of 12-04.00 feet.
The Aggie’s men team was very strong across the board and showed the depth of this year’s team. USU has notoriously been strong at long distance and throwing events, but this year it has many great sprinters to add to the line-up as well. Even with the absence of Mike Pyrtle, one of USU’s star sprinters, the Aggies still managed to pick up first place in many of the speed events. Junior Armahd Lewis placed first in the 100m sprint with a time of 10.59, with a close second by freshman teammate Matt Maughan, who had a time of 10.60. Lewis also tabbed first place for USU in the 200m event.
“They’re running really well right now,” Gensel said, “and I’m excited for what’s ahead.”
Senior Nick Karren also added two more titles to the men’s team. He dominated the 110m hurdles, with a time of 14.37, nearly .8 seconds faster than the second-place finisher. His second win came later in the 400m hurdles, where he finished with a time of 52.07.
“He (Karren) did a really good job, and he’s starting to come out of a little funk that he’s been in,” Gensel said.
In the 800m, senior Jason Holt and freshman Tyler Killpack came in first and third place, respectively. Killpack’s time was 1:54.45, while Holt finished with a time of 1:50.33. The 1500m race was a race of the Aggie’s long-distance runners, with sophomores Hunter Nelson and Eric Larson placing first and second with times of 3:56.43 and 3:57.45, respectively. In the 3000m steeplechase, teammates freshman Kyle Moffet and sophomore Mike Budge edged out UVU’s Spencer Foster to pick up first and second place in that event, with times of 10:03.06 and 10:24.10. Sophomore Brian McKenna won the 5000m event and set a personal record with a time of 15:05.55.
Performing well in the throwing events was sophomore Joe Canavan, who placed second in the shot put, with a distance of 55-03.55 feet. He was followed by sophomore teammate Daniel Cruz, who threw for a distance of 50-03.50 for fifth place. Cruz did well in the hammer throw as well, with a fourth place finish, and a distance of 172-01 feet. In the javelin throw, senior Dusty Ott, junior Alex DuPlessis, and sophomore Jaymin Vickers finished first through third with distances of 61.41m, 57.14m and 56.28m respectively.
Junior long jumper James Allred jumped for a distance of 21-06 feet, which placed him second in that event. USU’s senior triple jumper Palmer Hawkins placed third with a distance of 38-04.75 feet. Sophomore John Johnson took fourth place in the pole vault, with a height of 15-07.00 feet, and junior Max Hansen took fifth with a height of 15-01.00 feet.
The Aggie men’s day was topped off with a spectacular performance in the high jump by junior Clint Silcock. Silcock jumped for a height of 7-05.00 feet, placing him first in the high jump. The jump was also the highest in the in the WAC and seacond highest in the NCAA this season.
“I think it was a fantastic feat, a great achievement in school history,” Silcock’s event coach John Strang said. “Clint just had a baby last week so his family was there to support him which was really special. I think this really takes him from a great collegiate athlete to an elite athlete in track and field.”
The Utah State track team will compete next at the Berkeley Invitational on Friday and Saturday, April 23-24.
– t.g.s@aggiemail.usu.edu