USU Men are track’s WAC champs, Gensel named Coach of the Year
The men’s and women’s track teams proved their mettle in a highly competitive Western Athletic Conference championship meet that came right down to the wire for both teams. The men earned the title of co-conference champions, tying host team Boise State with 177 points.
Boise State and Utah State dominated the field, combining to score 354 of the 517 points scored, or 68 percent. In distant third place was Louisiana Tech with 94 points. The Aggie women came up just shy of a conference title, coming within one point of five-time champion Louisiana Tech.
“The goal of any team is to stay in the hunt and win championships,” USU head coach Gregg Gensel said. “We showed our team is one of those teams. It went close on both sides, right down to the last event. It’s moments like that that are bittersweet. We all performed pretty well, and you either drive for the win or lose by one point.”
On top of earning another conference title for the Aggie men, Gensel was named men’s indoor track and field WAC Coach of the Year for the fourth time in five years.
The women had only one individual champion in Sonia Grabowska, who crushed the competition in the pole vault with an NCAA automatic qualifying and new USU record mark of 13’11.25. The rest of the women were no slouches, either, with a number of second and third-place marks between them. Katelyn Heiner took runner-up in the 400-meter with a time of 55.32, which was good for the fifth fastest time in Utah State history. Heiner was also an integral cog in the third-place 4×400 relay team also consisting also of Hollie Bosworth, Aubrie Haymore, and Kylie Hirschi. Their time of 3:44.82, although not quite fast enough for a conference title, was the sixth-fastest time in school history. In order to win the conference meet, the team needed to finish second, which they missed by .18 seconds.
“That was really bittersweet,” Katelyn Heiner said of the results of the race and the meet itself. “I was the last leg, and when I got the baton I was quite a bit behind, so I just gave it all I had. Everybody put it out there for the 4×400. We’ve never run that fast before so I was glad to be on that team. You start thinking we could have picked up a point here or there, but then again we could have lost a bunch of points too.”
Hirschi, a freshman, notched another top-five USU time, running 2:12.70, tabbing second place in the 800-meter. Hannah Williams slid into 10th on the all-time list with a 4:59.69 in the mile, which earned her third place. School-record holder Ruth Hilton was second in the 3,000-meter run, finishing in 9:54.73. Kim Quinn was just behind in 9:55.61. Lyndsey Spencer took second place in the shot put with a throw of 48′ 8.25″, the third farthest throw by a Utah State athlete. Just behind her was fellow Aggie Spela Hus, who threw a 47′.75″.
The Aggie men took home eight different event titles, highlighted by senior Clint Silcock and Armahd Lewis. Silcock capped off an undefeated indoor season with a high jump of 7’2.25, earning his third straight indoor conference title. Lewis was the only Aggie to win two events, running a career best 6.77 in the 60-meter dash, edging him up the record books from fifth to fourth. He also took home top honors in the 200-meter with a time of 21.46. Lewis earned co-honors for Performer of the Year along with Idaho’s Markus Geiger.
“Since the fall, I had started working to get Athlete of the Meet. Ever since last year at the conference meet I said I want to get that next year. That was my season’s goal, and I got it,” Lewis said. “I’m feeling confident about my goals for outdoor because I set my indoor goals and got them at the first meet.” Parker Bluth finished close in Lewis’ footsteps, earning second-team All-Conference honors, placing fourth in both the 60-meter and the 200-meter with times of 6.95 and 21.91.
James Allred won his second 800-meter run title, finishing in 153:24, just ahead of team mate Jason Holt, who finished in 1:53.86.
Eric Larsen led a strong Aggie pack in the mile, winning in a career-best time of 4:09.32. Also in the pack were Hunter Nelson, Aaron Clements and Chio Lopez, who finished fourth, fifth and sixth with times of 4:14.46, 4:14.59 and 4:16.17 respectively, each earning second-team All-Conference honors.
Daniel Howell rounded out a mid-distance distance trifecta, winning the 3,000 meter run in 8:26.54
John Johnson capped off one of the stronger indoor seasons seen by a male Aggie pole vaulter in a while, finishing second with a height of 16′ 1.25″.
The men’s 4×400 team of James Allred, Tanner Hunt, Bluth and Lewis took second in a very competitive relay, with a time of 3:14.16, the fourth-fastest time in school history. For Hunt’s combined effort in the 4×400 and third-place 47.99 run in the 400-meter he earned WAC Freshman of the Year honors.
Next up for Utah State is a last chance qualifying meet held at the University of Washington on March 5, and then the NCAA Indoor Championships held in College Station, Texas, on March 7. So far, Silcock is the lone Aggie who has already automatically qualified for the competition, with Grabowska qualified for an at-large bid, so the majority of the track team will be gearing up for the first outdoor action of the year, which will take place at the Willie Williams Classic in Tucson, Ariz. on March 17.
– michael.d.rees@aggiemail.usu.edu