USU garners success at Mark Faldmo Invitational
by tavin stucki
sports editor
The USU track and field teams won 15 event titles during the Mark Faldmo Invitational at Ralph Maughan Stadium on Friday and Saturday.
Senior Lindsey Spencer extended her school record in the hammer throw with a toss of 61.04 meters (200 feet, 3 inches), won the discus with a 52.22 (171-04) and took second in the shot put with a 14.30 (46-11) toss.
“It was pretty exciting,” Spencer said. “The coolest part was my grandpa came. This is the first meet he’d ever been to. It was a big deal to throw that well, especially with him there.”
Spencer said Utah State – where she has broken into the top 15 throwers nationally in both the discus and hammer throw – has become her home after a stint at Weber State.
“One is probably my focus,” Spencer said when asked what contributed to her success. “This is the healthiest I’ve been in years. That’s a big deal.”
USU head coach Greg Gensel said he’s happy for Spencer’s success and how it helps the team.
“If you ask her, she’ll tell you that she didn’t do well today,” Gensel said of Spencer’s performance. “What I’ve seen is the consistency. She’s a typical competitive athlete. She wants to PR every time she throws. That’s admirable but probably not going to happen.”
The Aggies also saw success in the women’s pole vault, when junior Amber Thompson finished third with a personal record of 3.82 (12-6.25), moving her to No. 5 all-time at USU, and senior Sonia Grabowska won with a jump of 4.12 (13-6.25).
“I did really well,” Grabowska said. “I was jumping consistent and making everything at the first attempts.”
The senior from Poland barely missed a chance to break her own school record of 4.21 (13-9.75).
“I should have easily jumped it,” Grabowska said. “I think it was just mental. I know the bar was higher, so I was getting tensed and doing weird things and the bar fell off.”
Grabowska said despite the disappointment of missing at a school-record height, she is happy with how consistently she’s jumped this season.
“I was thinking about it and that’s a really good thing,” Grabowska said. “I’m focused on jumping those high bars. I hope those big bars are going to come when they need to.”
Other notable highlights from the only USU-hosted meet of the season included junior Alisa Sheffer’s personal best of 2 minutes, 16.94 seconds in the 800 meter dash, senior Katelyn Heiner’s 54.70 second, personal best performance to win the 400 and sophomore Sam Nielson winning the javelin with a throw of 38.26 (125-06).
A trio of freshman high jumpers including Aggie volleyball player Rachel Orr, Mariah Thompson and Jodi Williams, finishing one, two, three with season best heights of 1.70 (5-7.00).
Junior decathlete Jon Goble improved his personal record in the pole vault by a foot to finish third with a jump of 4.75 (15-7.00).
“We all seem to be making the right steps at the right time,” Gensel said. “It’s the right time of the year to start making improvements, and that’s what I’m seeing. We had a lot of PRs, season bests, improvements, and that’s what you want at a meet like this.”
– tavin.stucki@aggiemail.usu.edu