USU men and women XC only Ag teams to win titles
Two was the magic number.
Out of the 16 Division 1-A teams at USU, only two took home their conference championships – and they just happened to be in the same sport.
The USU men’s and women’s cross country teams both took home Western Athletic Conference championships in the 2006 season, a feat that hadn’t been accomplished since Rice University did it in 1999.
It was the second consecutive conference championship for the men’s team. The women jumped up from second last year to claim their first conference title since they captured the Big West title in 1998.
The Aggie men dominated their race – all five of the runners who scored for the team placed in the top 10. Senior Vance Twitchell, who finished second overall, led the charge for the men. Ben Kessen placed fourth, followed by Seth Wold in fifth, freshman Tony Jones in seventh and Aaron Clements in eighth.
Not to be outdone, the women’s team had three runners finish in the top 10. A Twitchell lead the way for the women as well. Jennifer, Vance Twitchell’s wife, finished fourth overall. She was followed closely by Stacie Lifferth in fifth and Amy Egan in seventh. Also, Caroline Berry finished 18th and April Rowlan finished 29th to round out the scoring on the women’s side.
This success lead to USU Head Coach Gregg Gensel being named men’s and women’s Coach of the Year in the WAC. Jones was also named the WAC Freshman of the Year, and Vance Twitchell would also go on to be one of 25 runners named to the All-Mountain Region team.
Cross country finished up their season by finishing in the top 10 at the NCAA Mountain Regionals. The women’s team was ninth out 17 schools, while the men’s team finished in 10th place out of 15. The Twitchells again led the Aggies. Vance finished in 24th place, and Jennifer, who is a senior, was 29th.
USU runners continued their success as they transitioned into indoor track season.
The men’s team finished the indoor season by placing second at the WAC Indoor Championships, while the women placed fourth.
There were a lot of strong individual performances during the indoor season, but none was stronger than Jennifer Twitchell’s in the mile. Twitchell earned All-American status in the mile and qualified for nationals, where she finished fifth.
Twitchell was also one of five runners to break school records during the season. Her record-breaking time of 4:39.95 in the mile was joined by senior Logan Moore in the heptathlon, senior DJ Smith in the 200-meters, senior Amber Peterson in the 60-meter hurdles and Lifferth in the 3,000-meters. Smith was also named WAC Athlete of the Year by the league’s coaches.
And although the outdoor season is not yet over, USU’s success has followed them outside.
There have already been several athletes qualifying for the NCAA Regionals. Lifferth and Kevin Lui were able to qualify for Regionals at the first outdoor meet of the year in Tucson, Ariz. Lifferth qualified in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, and Lui made it in the hammer throw.
The outdoor season has also seen a couple of school records fall. Smith broke the school record in the 100-meters at the Weber State Invitational with a NCAA qualifying time of 10.28. Lifferth broke her own school record with a 10:18.89 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at Oregon Invitational. Her time leads the WAC.
Women’s MVP: tie, Jennifer Twitchell, Amber Peterson, Stacie Lifferth
Women’s Most Improved: Amy Egan
Women’s Rookie of the Year: Brittany Chadwick
Men’s MVP: three-way tie, DJ Smith, Vance Twitchell, Kevin Lui
Men’s Most Improved: Dasheek Akwenye
Men’s Rookie of the Year: Tony Jones
-dabake@cc.usu.edu