Track team qualifies six Aggies for regional meet
The Utah State track team had six regional qualifying marks Saturday after hosting the Mark Faldmo Invitational at USU.
“It’s always nice to be home and the results show it,” Utah State Head Coach Greg Gensel said. “We had five or six region qualifying marks and … we had a lot of people step it up and perform really well.”
The Aggies led the way in the hurdles on their home track.
Leading the way for the men, Dustin Vetica won the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 51.09 seconds. It was good enough to qualify for regionals.
“I was very pleased with what went on today,” Gensel said. “From freshman to seniors they all responded.”
Vetica also finished second in the 110 hurdles behind teammate Justing Wickard. The Aggies dominated in that event, sweeping the first five places.
Gensel said he was really happy with how the Aggies performed Saturday, and a lot of it comes from performing at home.
“Being home is a great thing,” he said. “All you have to worry about the race the throwing the jumping, whatever it may be. You don’t have to worry about where they start this [or] how the starter is going to be because it’s all familiar surroundings.”
And, he said, the Aggies responded.
Along with Vetica, Aggie Rod McNeal also qualified for regionals in the 200 meters. He had two first-place finishes for the day, coming in first in the 200 as well as the 100.
Zack Lloyd improved his regional qualifying mark in the discus, coming in third, while taking the first place in the shot put. Lloyd disqualified in the hammer throw but USU’s Kevin Lin stepped up and was able to qualify in the event.
Two Aggie women will head to regionals after the meet as well.
Leading the way in the 400 hurdles, Katie Thatcher qualified with a time of 1:00.32. Amber Judd was not far behind, finishing second with a time of 1:00.44. Judd’s time was also good enough for a trip to the regionals meet.
Gensel said the Aggies had a lot of really good races outside of those that qualified for regionals. He said the women’s 4-by-400 relay improved its best time by five seconds, and several other Aggies were close to qualifying for regionals.
The men’s 4-by-100 relay team missed qualifying for the big meet by only a couple hundredths of a second with a time of 40.71.
Aggie Amy Egan just missed a qualifying mark in the 800 with a time of 2:10.75.
“People are knocking right at the door to get into that big meet,” he said. “I think we’re going to run that fast too pretty soon. I think overall everybody stepped up, everybody cheered.”
Gensel said he likes holding the home meet when he did because it gets the Aggies on the roll and ready for the conference meet.
Being home gives the Aggies confidence, he said, and Saturday was no exception.
“We had beautiful weather and great performances,” he said.
The Aggie women had one other runner finish in first without a region time. Sarah Dimich easily outpaced two Idaho State opponent in the steeplechase, but her time of 11:43.27 was not quite enough for an automatic trip to regionals.
The Aggies will next compete at the Oregon Invitational in Eugene, Ore., on Saturday.
-aedmunds@cc.usu.edu
Aggie Amber Judd competes in the hurdles. She qualified for regionals after coming in second. (Photo by John Zsiray)
Utah State´s Matt Price competes in the high jump Saturday in Logan at the Mark Faldmo Invitational. He finished second in the event. The Aggies qualified six athletes for regionals at the invitational. (Photo by John Zsiray)