Ags dominate at home
Utah State men’s and women’s track and field welcomed Idaho State, Utah Valley, Utah, Brigham Young and Weber State to Ralph Maughan Track Stadium on Saturday. Despite the blowing wind, both the men’s and women’s team shined, as eight individuals posted NCAA regional times, as well as eight first place finishes.
“Other than the wind, today was a great day, not only weather-wise but by the performances of the entire team,” USU head coach Gregg Gensel said. “The kids did a great job, we had a handful of regional qualifiers and just some overall great efforts and terrific performances.”
The home meet was the first and only home meet of the year and Gensel said that with all of the effort that the coaches put in to getting the facility ready, he couldn’t be more pleased.
“My great coaching staff, our team and I worked especially hard in getting our facility ready for this meet,” Gensel said. “Plus the thing I like about this facility is it is really conducive to when the winds are strong, it benefits the events that need that type of help, so today was great.”
For the day, Utah State claimed eight first place finishes, as well as 35 top-three finishes.
On the men’s side, freshman Silas Pimentel posted two NCAA regional times, as he placed second in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.45, which is the third fastest in Aggie history. Pimentel also clocked a 21.21 in the 200-meter dash.
Junior Blake Hadfield joined Pimental, as he posted two NCAA regional marks in the triple-jump and the long jump. Hadfield won the triple-jump with personal record distance of 49-feet-5-inches. That distance was just half an inch shy of breaking a school record. The junior from Millville, Utah also posted a personal best distance in the long jump, as he completed a second-place jump of 24-feet-4.25-inches.
Freshman Joe Canavan posted a second place finish in the shot put with a throw of 55-feet-7.75-inches. The throw was good enough to post another NCAA regional mark for the Aggies.
Other Aggie men who performed well included Chase Taylor in the javelin. The senior won the event with a with a throw of 195-feet-6-inches.
In the 800 and 1500-meter distance events, the men came away with two first-second finishes as sophomore Andrew Niccoli led the way with a time of 1:54.15, while teammate Jason Holt followed behind for a close second with a time of 1:55.35. Holt led the way with a first place finish in the 1500-meter run, when he clocked a time of 3:56.67. Holt was followed to the finish line by fellow sophomore Steve Strickland, who ran a time of 3:57.57.
Rounding out the men’s winners were the relay teams for both the 4×100 and the 4×400. The 100-meter relay team consisted of Pimentel, junior John Strang and seniors Lamar Brown and Dasheek Akwenye. The team posted a time of 41.58 seconds. The 400-meter relay team was made up by two freshman, James Allred and Lukasz Wicka, junior Brandon Waller and senior Brett Knighton, who combined for a winning time of 3:22.27.
For the women junior Krista Larson led the way as she improved on her NCAA region mark in the hammer throw. Larson placed third overall with a distance of 185-feet-10-inches, which is the fifth best throw in Utah State history.
Two other Aggie women, sophomore Ashlee Cannon and freshman Sonia Grabowska posted NCAA regional marks.
Cannon ran a time of 13.75 in the 100-meter hurdles, finishing second. Grabowska competed in the pole vault and finished in second place with a height of 12-feet-7.5-inches. The only women to beat the freshman was an unattached participant by the name of Stacy Dragila. Dragila, a native of Pocatello, Idaho, is the U.S. pole vault record holder and held the world record in 2003. Dragila is trying to qualify for her third U.S. Olympic team.
The women’s 4×100 and 4×400 relay teams matched the men, as both teams claimed first place in their respective relays. The 100-meter team consisted of Cannon, sophomore Brittany Chadwick and freshmen Katelyn Jensen and Kamiko Kamo, who all ran a time of 47.09. The distance relay ran a time 3:49.38. The athletes on that team were freshman Camille Fehlberg, sophomore Jennifer Day, junior Katie Thatcher and senior Cachet Webb.
This Friday and Saturday the Aggies will send athletes to Berkley, Calif., to compete in the Cal Berkeley Invitational, as well as to the Clarence Robison Invitational in Provo, Utah. Following this weekend’s meets, the Aggies will participate in the Utah Collegiate Challenge on May 7. That will be their final tune-up before participating in the Western Athletic Conference Championships, May 14-17 at Boise, Idaho.
-sam.bryner@aggiemail.usu.edu