Aggies Reset the Record Books at the 2017 Mountain West Outdoor Track & Field Championships
Utah State Track & Field ended the 2017 Mountain West Outdoor Track & Field Championships with a treasure trove of medals, records and personal bests.
In the four-day, 11-school event hosted by USU at the Ralph Maughan Track Stadium, the men of Air Force took home the men’s team title, scoring 218.50 points, while the women of San Diego State captured the women’s team title with 159.50 points.
The Utah State men finished third out of seven teams on their side with 133 points and the women placed eighth out of eleven teams with 42.50 points. Since joining the Mountain West Conference, the men have finished third, fourth, second and now third while the women have finished sixth, fourth, sixth and eighth.
In total, the Aggies walked away with four gold medals, five silvers and six bronzes in this year’s championships.
David Hirschmann was the first champion for Utah State.
On the third day of the event, the junior discus thrower became the first-ever Mountain West discus champion in USU history, as Hirschmann won the event with a personal-best mark of 53.33 meters (175-0). The Aggie was just under a full meter ahead of second-place Kevin Sundberg of Fresno State, whose best throw landed at 52.42 meters (172-0). In the men’s shot put, Hirschmann placed third, as well, with a toss of 17.58 meters (57-8.25).
At the outset of the fourth and final day, Sindri Gudmundsson gave the Aggies their second title of the competition.
The redshirt freshman’s javelin throw went for a distance of 77.19 meters (253-3), which broke the all-time Mountain West conference record (Chris Reno, 73.35 meters) and long-standing all-time Utah State record (Neil Warr, 71.98 meters), while resetting the facility record in that event, as well. In addition, Gudmundsson’s mark now ranks third best in the country so far this season.
The most dominant individual in the meet for Utah State was AJ Boully.
The senior claimed a medal in every event he participated in, as he claimed the 400 meter hurdles title (49.48) and finished runner-up in the 110 meter hurdles (13.91). Boully’s two hurdles times are personal bests, while his 400 meter hurdles time is also a Mountain West Championship record and ranks third best in MW history.
Accompanied by Joshua Gordon, Brady Martin and Michael Bluth, Boully, the team’s anchor, helped to claim Utah State’s fourth-straight Mountain West title in the 4×400 meter relay with a time of 3:05.53, which is both a Mountain West Championships and Ralph Maughan Track Stadium record.
Fellow fourth-day podium finishers include Devin Wright, who placed third in the javelin throw with a personal-best toss of 67.84 meters (222-07), Brenn Flint, who claimed silver in the women’s shot put with a mark of 15.57 meters (51-1) and Olivia Moriconi, a third-place finisher in the shot put with a distance of 15.11 meters (49-7).
Samuel Wing placed alongside Boully in the men’s 400 meter hurdles, taking third with a personal-best time of 51.35. Clay Lambourne earned a silver medal in the 800 meter, clocking in a time of 1:48.07 and Dillon Maggard excelled in the men’s 1,500 meter, finishing runner-up with a time of 3:47.55.
With the best finish for the Aggie women on the track, Tylee Newman-Skinner captured a third-place finish in the 1,500 meter with a time of 4:27.23.
Now Utah State will focus its attention on the NCAA West Preliminary Championships, where the top athletes from each event in the West Region will compete for the opportunity to qualify for the NCAA Championships. USU head coach Gregg Gensel reportedly anticipates taking 20 athletes, which would be a school record.
The NCAA West Prelims will be held May 25-27 in Austin, Texas at the University of Texas.