Aggies capture two titles at MWC Indoor Track & Field Championships
Utah State finished with two titles and 14 top-three finishes at the Mountain West Indoor Track & Field Championships from Thursday to Saturday at the Albuquerque Convention Center. The Aggie men finished in third place with 97 points and the Aggie women finished in sixth place with 57 points, the most since joining the Mountain West Conference.
Colorado State finished first on the men’s (151 points) and women’s (139 points) side.
Utah State finished 1-2-3 in the men’s high jump with sophomore Hunter Simonsen winning the event with a 2.18 meter (7-01.75) jump, which tied for the fourth best jump in school history. Freshman Chandler Obray finished second and senior Leaugen Fray finished third.
“It’s surreal,” Simonsen said. “Being injured the last year-and-a-half and being able to come to conference and jump 2.18 meters is an incredible feeling. I have no words, honestly. It is just absolutely incredible, especially at conference, to go one-two-three. It’s insane. To be able to train with them and learn so much from them throughout this season has been a blessing in disguise. They have been awesome.”
Junior Kyle Morris won the men’s shot put with a personal best throw of 18.38 meters, good for fourth in school history. Sophomore Josh Barclay took second in shot put with a throw of 17.13 meters. Senior Brenn Flint finished second in shot put on the women’s side, throwing for 16.41 meters.
“It feels awesome,” Morris said. “I came in with the mentality that I was going to win. Josh and I were working for this the entire season. We knew we were going to take 1-2 and that’s what we came here to do. We did it and no matter the outcome, I was going to be happy. It definitely feels good to be on top.”
The Utah State women set two school records in the meet in the weight throw and the distance medley relay.
Junior Maia Garren topped the previous Aggie record of 19.14 meters by Keeley Eldredge with a throw of 19.49 meters in the weight throw during the competition. Garren finished second in the event.
“That was a pretty special meet for her to have,” USU head track & field/throws coach Matt Ingebritsen said. “I know she’s been working on that this entire season and that’s been the goal. Obviously, she probably would’ve wanted to do it a little bit earlier in the year, but this was the right venue to do it in and the right place to do it. I couldn’t be more proud of what she has done because that was a good school record she broke.”
The Aggie women also broke the school record in the distance medley relay with a time of 11:31.69 behind seniors Megan Ryan, Shannon Maloney and Cierra Simmons-Meacham as well as junior Kasia Lawrynowicz. The quartet broke a school record of 11:37.89 set earlier this season.
Utah State’s next track meet will be at UC Irvine on March 15 in the Collegiate Classic.