Track and field finishes weekend strong at Jackson Invitational

USU Athletics

    Utah State men and women’s track and field teams concluded the Jacksons Invitational hosted by Boise State on Saturday, capturing seven event titles and 22 top-five finishes.  Overall, USU won eight event titles with 32 top-five finishes at Jacksons Indoor Track during the two-day invitational.

    Seniors Clint Silcock and Armahd Lewis remain undefeated on the season and each hold the top Western Athletic Conference season-best marks in their respective events. Silcock cleared a high jump mark of 7-00.25 (2.14m) to edge out teammate Eric Follett (6-06.25 (1.99m)) for the top spot. Lewis (6.86) led an Aggie 1-2-3 finish in the 60m with fellow senior Mike Pyrtle’s season-best time of 6.93 and freshman Parker Bluth (7.00).

    Also capturing titles for the Utah State men were senior Mercer Owen in the 800m, clocking his career-best (1:54.63), and freshman Devin Lang in the mile (4:18.93). Freshman AJ Boully finished third (8.48) in the 60m hurdles followed closely by sophomore Jordan McMurray (8.80) and junior Philip Noble (8.87), respectively.  Freshman Tanner Hunt and sophomore Spencer Hall rounded out the top-five finishes for the men with Hunt finishing fourth in the 400m (48.90) and Hall ending in fifth-place in the weight throw (54-07.50 (16.65m)).

    Leading the Aggie women with event titles were juniors Katelyn Heiner and Spela Hus, along with freshman Hannah Williams.  Heiner won the 400m for the second week in a row with a career-best 55.47 time followed by sophomore Aubrie Haymore in third (57.17) and senior Heidi Peterson in fourth (57.35), as she also finished second in the 60m hurdles (8.92). Hus won the shot put with season-best throw of 46-06.00 (14.17m). Williams won her first event of the season in the mile with a time of 5:05.98. 

    Other Aggie women who finished in the top-five included freshman Chari Hawkins, who took fourth in the 60m hurdles and Kylie Hirschi with a second-place finish in the 800m (2:16.25). Ending the day fifth in their respective events were sophomore Jen Schiess with a high jump of 5-05.00 (1.65m) and freshman Daphne Jones with a triple jump of 35-10.00 (10.92m).

    Utah State will return to Jacksons Indoor Track on Feb. 23-26, when Boise State hosts

the 2011 WAC Indoor Championships.

    The Aggies will continue their indoor season in Albuquerque, N.M. for the New Mexico Invitational on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 4-5.