USU CROWNS SECOND AND THIRD CHAMPIONS AT WAC CHAMPIONSHIPS
HONOLULU, Hawai’I – Utah State dominated the 3,000-meter steeplechase as Vance Twitchell set a Cooke Field Stadium record and a regional qualifying mark en route to winning the men’s side, while Stacie Lifferth did the same on the women’s side while just missing a new league championship record at the WAC Track and Field Championships here on Friday.
Utah State also sent 14 men and five women into Saturday finals, while scoring well in Friday finals as well. Through five men’s events and four women’s events, USU had posted three individual champions, including Logan Moore, who won the decathlon late Thursday night.
After four events on the women’s side, Utah State leads the championships with 35 points. Host Hawai’I is second with 30 points, while Idaho is third with 23 points. The USU men are in second place with 36 points, while Boise State leads with 48 points through five events. Fresno State is third with 30.
Twitchell, a junior from Helena, Mont., who transferred to USU after Utah dropped its men’s track program, recorded a time of 9:06.48 to win the event by five seconds.
Lifferth recorded a 10:24.67 clocking, just short of the WAC Championship meet mark of 10:23.61 set by Kara June of Fresno State in 2004.
Late Thursday night Logan Moore captured the league title in the decathlon posting nearly a 300-point win as he scored 6,713 points to beat Idaho’s Ryan Lang, who finished the 10-event decathlon with 6,456 points. Moore then placed sixth in the javelin on Friday with a toss of 182-08 to score a point for the men’s team.
Also on Friday, Max Hansen posted the third-best finish by an Aggie in a final as he was the runner-up in the pole vault with a mark of 15-07.00. Justin Wickard recorded a season-best long jump of 23-10.75 to finish third in that event. Wickard also finished third in the prelims of the 110-meter hurdles and will race in Saturday’s finals.
On the women’s side, Lacey Hulbert, who was the runner-up in Thursday’s pentathlon, finished fourth in the high jump with a leap of 5-05.25. Hulbert also qualified for Saturday’s 100 hurdles finals with the seventh-best time of the day at 14.68.
Amber Judd had the top time in the 100 hurdles preliminaries, recording a 14.08 clocking. She also qualified for Saturday’s 400 hurdles finals posting the third best time in that event at 1:03.10.
Jill Steele posted a season-best 2:10.91 in the 800 preliminaries and enters Saturday’s finals as the third seed.
Several events were scheduled to be completed late Friday night, including the women’s shot put, long jump, and 10,000 and the men’s discus and 10,000. The championships will wrap up on Saturday.
Live scoring of the championships is available at wacsports.com.
WAC TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS (Top eight finishers in prelims qualify for Saturday finals)
Team Scores (through 5 events) Men 1. Boise State 48 2. UTAH STATE 36 3. Fresno State 30 4. Idaho 25 5. Louisiana Tech 16
Women (through 4 events) 1. UTAH STATE 35 2. Hawai’I 30 3. Idaho 23 4. Nevada 20 5. Louisiana Tech 18 6. Boise State 13 7. Fresno State 9 8. New Mexico State 8
USU Results
Friday’s Results
Men 100 (Prelims) – 2. DJ Smith, 10.53, 3. Cedric Young, 10.69 110 Hurdles (Prelims) – 3. Justin Wickard, 14.27, 5. Scott Bell, 14.48, 7. Jason Jeppsen, 14.59, 9. Nick Karren, 14.87 (DNQ) 200 (Prelims) – 2. DJ Smith, 21.74, 5. Cedric Young, 21.85 400 (Prelims) – 5. Dasheek Akwenye, 48.20, 9. Brett Knighton, 48.63 (DNQ) 400 Hurdles (Prelims) – 2. Scott Bell, 52.70, 6. Nick Karren, 53.67, 7. Brad Martin, 54.53 800 (Prelims) – 4. Emon Williams, 1:55.71), 8. Yance Fawcett, 155.72, 11. Craig Bown, 1:57.20 (DNQ), 12. David Gray, 1:59.57 (DNQ) Steeplechase – 1. Vance Twitchell, 9:06.48. Long Jump – 3. Justin Wickard, 23-10.75 (7.28m), 9. Kevin Robinson, 21-09.50 (6.64m)Pole Vault – 2. Max Hansen, 15-07.00 (4.75m), 5. Palmer Hawkins, 14-07.25 (4.45m) Javelin – 6. Logan Moore, 182-08 (55.68m), 7. Chase Taylor, 182-00 (55.48m)
Women 100 (Prelims) – 16. Natalie Wisan, 12.75 (DNQ), 17. Megan Wold, 13.17 (DNQ) 100 Hurdles (Prelims) – 1. Amber Judd, 14.08, 7. Lacey Hulbert, 14.68 200 (Prelims) – 19. Natalie Wisan, 26.27 (DNQ), 22. Megan WOld, 27.67 (DNQ) 400 (Prelims) – 12. Elaine Connolly, 58.63 (DNQ), 16. Jennifer Day, 59.66 (DNQ) 800 (Prelims) – 3. Jill Steele, 2:10.91, 7. Kristen Guymon, 2:12.51 Steeplechase – 1. Stacie Lifferth, 10:24.67, 3. Tiffany Strickland, 10:49.00, 4. Jennifer Twitchell, 11:12.49 High Jump – 4. Lacey Hulbert, 5-05.25 (1.66 m), 9. Aimee Sauvageau, 5-00.25 (1.53m), 9. Tara Pickett, 5-00.25 (1.53m), 9. Jamie Garn, 5-00.25 (1.53m) Hammer – 17. Michelle Bowen, 150-02 (45.77m)
Thursday’s Results
Men Decathlon – 1. Logan Moore, 6,713 points
Women Heptathlon – 2. Lacey Hulbert, 5,304 points, 8. Aimee Sauvageau, 4,165.