Outdoor track to open season
The Utah State University track teams will open their seasons Friday and Saturday at the Baldy Castillo Invitational in Tempe, Ariz., against host Arizona State University and other universities including BYU, Washington State University and Idaho State University.
The indoor track teams last competed Feb. 22 and 23 at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation regional meet in Flagstaff, Ariz., where the Aggies posted 24 personal bests and both the men’s and women’s teams finished seventh.
Head Coach Gregg Gensel said he is pleased with the results of the indoor season, although the teams didn’t meet all of their goals.
“We accomplished a lot of things,” he said. “Our main goal was to get ready for the outdoor season, and we did that. We didn’t meet all the goals we had, but we had lofty expectations.”
Gensel said one surprise of the indoor season was freshman Justin Wickard who competed in sprinting events and the long jump.
“Justin Wickard had a very stellar indoor season and did better than my expectations,” he said. “He did a pretty decent job of being a freshman, coming in and competing.”
Gensel said his goal for the outdoor season is to win the Big West Conference Championships. The last time the teams won was in 1999. Last year both the men’s and women’s teams finished second in the conference.
The men’s distance runners and some individuals on the women’s team in distance are expected to do well this season, Gensel said. He also said Wickard, Shae Bair, Maurice Jenkins, Kristi Connors, Brett Guymon, Anthony Stewart, Dwayne Foster, Sandra Reategui and Neil Warr should lead the team this season.
Gensel said he expects to send individuals to the national competition this season. Five Aggies competed at nationals last year.
“Some athletes are improving enough that they could possibly go,” he said. “We had five go last year, and half of them are back.”
Six Aggies have already competed in the outdoor season. The multi-eventers traveled to College Station, Texas, Thursday and Friday to compete at Texas A&M University.
Joel Johnson competed in the gold division and finished in the top five in three events. He didn’t finish after no-heighting in the pole vault, but qualified for the conference meet in five events.
In the silver division, Jake Johnson took eighth while Brad Bair and Dan Messick competed but didn’t finish because of injuries to their foot and elbow, respectively.
On the women’s side, Amber Bagby took eighth and Dayna Barrett finished 15th in the bronze division.
The decathlon and heptathlon athletes are separated into divisions based on their marks going into the meet.
“I’m not pleased with the outcome [of the meet]; a few people got hurt,” Gensel said. “But I’m pleased with the individual efforts in certain events. I think we’ll just continue to get better.”
Gensel said the indoor season was to prepare the team for the outdoor season, and he is ready to start outdoors.
“We’re looking forward to getting rid of this weather and getting outdoors,” Gensel said.