Men finish second, women fourth in Ogden
The Utah State University men’s track and field team took a close second as the women’s team finished fourth of six teams at the Wildcat Invitational in Ogden Saturday.
The men finished the meet with five individual first-place finishes while the women took home one individual win.
Weber State University won both the men’s and women’s competitions. Other teams that competed were from Idaho State University, Montana State University, Utah Valley State College, BYU-Idaho and Southern Utah University.
Aggie Dwayne Foster won the 100-meter dash and set a new school record with his 10.10-second finish.
Justin Wickard took first in the 110 hurdles. His finish of 13.90 is the second-best time in USU history.
Josh Sides won the shot put (57’7.50″), took second in the hammer throw (189’4.00″) and finished fourth in the discus (158’4.00″) at the meet.
Brett Guymon took home an individual title in the 400 hurdles with a time of 50.50 and finished second in the 110 hurdles in 14.00 seconds.
Cedric Young also recorded an individual win for the Aggies with his 21.21 finish in the 200.
“It was good to see the sprinters do so well,” assistant coach Steve Reeder said. “We’re going to need everybody to be at their best in all of the events.”
On the women’s side, Kristin Coombs won the 1,500. Her time of 4:39.37 is the eighth-best in USU history.
“Kristen Coombs ran a really smart race in the 1,500,” Reeder said. “She caught the first-place girl and passed her in the last lap. She had a nice time as well.”
Sandra Reategui took second in the 200 (24.24) with the sixth-best time in Aggie history. She also finished fifth and met her personal record in the 100 (12.00).
Aggie Katie Farner finished second in the javelin (136’8.00″) and Kristi Connors took third in the 200 (24.30).
In the high jump, Amber Bagby, Dayna Barrett, Shelby Castleton and Jana McKinney all recorded marks of 5’5.00″ and tied for fourth place.
The women’s 4×100 and 4×400 relays both finished third in 47.30 and 3:49.63, respectively. The men’s 4×400 finished second (3:13.00), and its 4×100 took third (41.90) at the meet.
Aggie Tim Sparks finished third in both the discus (161.80′) and hammer throw (181.00′), and Mike Nielsen earned third in the 1,500 with a time of 3:57.23. Robert Crockett took third (6’5.50″) in the high jump while Tate Sorenson finished fifth (6’3.50″) in the same event.
Other top-finishers on the men’s side were Anthony Stewart, who earned fourth in the 100 (10.60); Demario Franklin, who took fourth in the long jump (22’0.50″); and Neal Warr, who finished fourth in the javelin (218’5.00″).
Reeder said it was encouraging to see Stewart run because he has been injured since the indoor season.
The competitors in the javelin in front of Warr threw NCAA provisional marks.
Warr’s throw was near-qualifying, Reeder said. Steve Prescott took fifth in the 5,000 (16:27.09), Mark Burton earned fifth in the shot put (51’1.00″) and Jake Geyer finished fifth in the 3,000 steeple chase (9:39.49).
“On the men’s team we knew that the competition would be really good in the distance events,” Reeder said. “Weber’s No. 1 steeple chase runner is second in the nation, so we knew it would be strong competition there.”
The Aggies will compete at home Saturday as they host the Mark Faldmo Invitational. Field events begin at 9 a.m. while the running events are slotted to start at 11 a.m.
Saturday will be Utah State’s only home meet of the season.
“We like to run in front of our friends and family,” Reeder said. “We want to do our best in front of that kind of audience.”