Track brings three titles home
The USU men and women’s track and field teams earned three titles on Saturday at the Cal Poly Invitational.
Competing against seven other teams, including Brigham Young, Fresno State, and Washington, the Aggies had three members win individual events.
Tiffany Strickland claimed the 3,000-meter steeplechase for the women with a time of 11:05.44.
Also winning their events were Mike Nielson, who claimed the men’s 5,000-meter run in 14:19.00, while Josh Sides won the men’s shot put with a distance of 18.26, adding to his victories at the Wilson Motor Invitational and Idaho State Invitational.
In addition to USU’s first-place finishers, several other Aggies had strong showings. In the women’s steeplechase, Emily Prestwich took second behind Strickland with a time of 11:47.46.
Kelli Burton placed high in three different events, finishing second in the shot put at 48′ 11″, second in the discus at 165′ 7″, and third in the hammer throw at 162′ 01.5″.
Carol Cabanillas also finished second for the Ags with a time of 17:40.70 in the 5,000-meters run.
On the men’s side, Trevor Ball finished just seconds behind Nielson in the men’s steeplechase with a time of 14:26.79, earning second place.
Ryan Bruhn placed second in the hammer throw at 191′ 00.75″, while Sides took fourth in that same event at 178′ 08″, adding to his shot put triumph.
Mark Burton took third in the shot put at 145′ 06″, while Reece Hulbert took fourth in the high jump at 6′ 01.5″.
During the indoor season, the Aggie men established eight all-time top 10 marks, while the women recorded 14 top ten performances.
The USU track team will now split squads. Part of the team will travel to Austin, Texas for the Texas Relays April 1-3. The Remainder of the team will compete in the BYU invitational in Provo April 3.
-mattandersen@cc.usu.edu