Lifferth-Dorius, Strickland Sweep Steeple Titles Friday At WAC Championships
BOISE, Idaho – Friday’s action at the Western Athletic Conference Track and Field Championships started with Utah State senior Stacie Lifferth-Dorius winning her third-straight conference 3,000 meter steeplechase title, followed by sophomore Steve Strickland winning the men’s steeple title. Action ended with sophomore Heath Wing’s thrilling victory in the 10,000m that came down to the last 10 meters. The Championships are at Boise, Idaho and hosted by Boise State at Bronco Stadium.
Utah State’s men’s team is in second with 56 points, trailing host Boise State’s 72 points. The Aggie men put nine through to Saturday’s finals from Friday’s prelims. The USU women’s team is sixth with 23 points, also sending nine through to the finals.
The team had a slight jolt, finding out that junior distance runner was unable to compete.
“I told the team last night the Seth wasn’t able to compete but I knew that we could still win the meet,” USU head coach Gregg Gensel said. “Last year on the second day, we led off with dropping the baton in the sprint relay and then our best 1,500 meter runner gets bumped off the track and doesn’t finish, yet we still won the team title. That’s the same thing as Seth not being able to compete.”
Gensel knows that the Aggie men are in striking distance and that Boise State would most likely be winning.
“I expected Boise State to be winning based on the field events that took place today,” Gensel said. “We got some positive points that we didn’t really expect and had some great performances today. We’re sitting right where we want to be in both the men’s and women’s.”
Lifferth-Dorius won with a time of 10:40. She became the second three-time WAC steeple champion in the conference’s history, joining Fresno State’s Kara June, who won four titles from 2001-04.
“It felt really good, it was just really, really, hot. I was starting to get tired during the third and fourth lap, but then our team showed up and was on the corner, all lined up and cheering, pushing me through the race,” Lifferth-Dorius said.
She was behind for the first lap and a half, trailing Fresno State’s Meredith Hawkins, before passing Hawkins on the second water jump and never relinquished the lead.
“The water jumps are one of my stronger parts to my race, and I just thought that when I hit the water jump, I’m going to be faster than someone else and I hit the water jump and passed her,” Lifferth-Dorius said.Lifferth-Dorius, who got married last summer, set a new venue record time for Bronco stadium, topping the previous mark of 11:09.1 from 2004.
“My husband will be happy and proud to know that we’ll have my new last name in there,” Lifferth-Dorius said, who also has her name in the USU record book as the record-holder in the event with a 10:10.89 run last year. “It’s an honor. You come into school hoping to leave something behind, and even if its just your name in the record book it feels pretty good.”
Despite her individual honor, Lifferth-Dorius was quick to commend junior teammate Vanessa Hawkins, who finished fourth with an 11:19.77 time.
“Vanessa has been a great teammate, her and I have been training together a lot and it was great to have her on the podium with me,” Lifferth-Dorius said.
Junior Steve Strickland completed the USU steeplechase sweep, taking the title with a time of 9:11.16.
“It’s exciting. I’ve been ranked number one all season so coming in here and winning it was just what I hoped to do,” Strickland said.
Strickland was with the pack for the majority of the race before pulling away in the last few laps.
“I was trying to get a feeling to see what the rest of the pack would be wiling to push. I knew I would be able to push more than they would because of my faster seeding time coming in,” Strickland said. “For the first two laps I was able to see what they would do and then the rest of the race I knew I’d be able to relax and still run a decent time.”
Strickland was joined on the podium by teammates Chio Lopez and Jared Glenn. The freshman Lopez was second with a 9:15.75 time while Glenn, a sophomore, clocked a 9:44.83.
“Part of the game plan from the start was to run together in a pack and get that momentum going and just to push from there,” Strickland said. “I knew my teammates would do what they had to do in order to get us big points. We’re happy about the results.”
In the day’s final event, the men’s 10,000 meters, Wing was in the pack throughout the race, before catching Fresno State’s Max Hernandez, and when down the stetch they came, Wing edged Hernandez in the final 10 meters.
“Seth had some major guts tonight,” Gensel said. “He hadn’t even run anything longer than a 1,500 meters, training mostly as an 800 runner. When he was on the back stretch, I could see the fire in his eyes and knew he would at least catch Hernandez, but I had no idea if he would pass him. It was crazy that after six miles, it came down to a footrace in the last 10 meters.”
Other highlights from Friday’s action included junior Keith Williams winning his 110m hurdles heat with a personal-best time of 14.32, which is also the eighth-fastest time in school history. Williams along with junior John Strang (14.98) advance to Saturday’s finals.
Sophomore Ashlee Cannon advanced to the women’s 100m hurdles finals after placing fifth in Friday’s prelims with a 14.04 time.
In the 400m, senior Dasheek Akwenye won his heat on the men’s side with a 47.65 time, and will be joined in the finals by teammates senior Brett Knighton (48.76) and junior Brandon Waller (48.88). In the women’s 400m, freshman Katelyn Jensen advanced to the finals after placing fourth in the prelims with a 55.98 clocking.USU will have two athletes in the women’s 100m after freshmen Kimiko Kamo (12.17) and Maria Halton (12.28) both advanced. On the men’s side, freshman Silas Pimentel won his heat in 10.54, advancing to the finals where he’ll be joined by Strang (10.96).
The women’s 800m saw sophomore Elaine Connolly (2:17.06) and Lifferth-Dorius (2:18.38) advance, while the men’s 800m had two Aggies qualify in sophomore Jason Holt, who won his head in 1:54.15 and sophomore Andrew Niccoli in 1:54.42.
In the women’s 400m hurdles, senior Katie Thatcher was an automatic finalist by winning her heat in 1:01.24 while freshman Heidi Hopkins was second in her heat with a faster time of 1:01.03. Fellow freshman Camille Fehlberg also advanced with a 1:02.96 time.
In the men’s high jump, Strang was second with a 6-8.25, while last year’s champion, sophomore Casey Parker was third at 6-08.25. Junior Nnambi Gwacham was fifth at 6-7.
Freshman Sonia Grabowska was third in the pole vault, with a 12-07.50 clearance.
Saturday’s action begins at 12:30 p.m. with the field events, opening with the women’s hammer while the women’s 4x100m relay starts off the running events at 5 p.m.
Utah State’s men’s team is the defending WAC champion while the Aggie women were fifth last year. The USU men will be trying to become the first repeat conference men’s champions under the current conference alignment and the first overall since BYU in 1998 and 1999. In the history of the WAC, there have been eight repeat champions, with some repeating more than two years, highlighted by BYU’s nine in a row from 1985-93.
Live results for the 2008 WAC Championships are available through www.utahstateaggies.com as well as www.wacsports.com and clicking on the “live results” link.