GUYMON AND NIELSON’S TWO TITLES EACH LEAD AGGIES TO BIG WEST TRACK CHAMPIONSHIP

IRVINE, Calif. — Utah State‚s Brett Guymon raced his way to wins in the 110-meter and 400-meter hurdle events and Mike Nielson posted a pair of victories in the 1,500 and 5,000-meter runs to lead the Aggies to their sixth Big West Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championship in the last nine years.

The win for the men was its first since 1999 as USU placed third in 2000 and was runner-up last year.

The Aggies scored 180 points to defeat runner-up Cal Poly (135) by 45 points. Idaho was third with 121 points.

USU‚s women finished fourth, their first non-first or second-place finish in the last 10 years.

Cal State Northridge won the women‚s championship with 193 points.

They were followed by Cal Poly (124), UC Irvine (116) and Utah State (92).

The Aggie women had won seven straight championships from 1993-99 before posting runner-up finishes in each of the last two years.

In all USU had five individual men‚s winners and three women individual champions.

Guymon and Nielson became just the 10th and 11th multiple winners for USU at the Big West Championships joining Craig Carter, 1989; Brooks Gibbons, 1996; Guymon, 2001; Muchapiwa Mazano, 1994; Corey Murdock, 1998, 1999; James Parker, 1995, 1999; and Scott Schaley, 1996 .

In addition to his pair of victories, which pushed his career Big West Championships total to five, Guymon posted a runner-up finish in the 400-meters with a time of 47.27.

The senior from Huntington, Utah, recorded a 14.12 time in the 110-meter hurdles and a 50.83 clocking in the 400-meter hurdles.

He finished his league career with three 400-meter hurdles titles and two 110-meter hurdles crowns.

The Aggies did not have a first or second-place finisher on Friday and responded well on Saturday as Nielson, a senior from Bellevue, Wash., led a three-man sweep of the 1,500-meters with a time of 3:50.21.

Nielson won the event, while Dusan Hlubock was second at 3:50.78 and David Kunnas was third at 3:51.05.

Nielson later captured the 5,000-meter title with a time of 14:41 to defeat teammate Scott Prescott. Neil Warr threw the javelin 210-0 to finish second in that event.

USU‚s men also finished 1-2-3-4 in the 110-meter hurdles as behind Guymon, Justin Wickard clocked a 14.13, Scott Bell a 14.44 and Joel Johnson a 14.55.

On the women‚s side Kristen Coombs won the 1,500-meters in a time of 4:34.95 and Shae Bair, who is a three-time All-American pole vaulter, finally claimed her first Big West pole vault title with a vault of 12-1.50.

Coombs also added a fourth-place finish the 5,000-meters with a time of 17:35.20.

Katie Farner performed well as after winning the heptathlon on Thursday, she finished third in the high jump on Friday and was fourth in the javelin on Saturday.

USU‚s men‚s title was the second Big West Conference Championship for the school this year, which won the basketball title this past winter.