Related Material
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WAC Track and Field Release.pdf
2002 WAC Top Performances.pdf
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The WAC Men's and Women's Outdoor Track and Field teams prepare for the NCAA Championsip, in Baton Rouge, La., May 29-June 1. Host LSU, along with 388 competitors will all be in attendance. The WAC has 16 athletes that have already qualified.
Click here for a complete NCAA listing 2002 WAC Outdoor Track and Field Championship..
Two New Champions CrownedSMU men and Fresno State women, won the 2002 WAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships, held at the Wedel D. Ley Track on the campus of Rice University. This is SMUs second title in three years, the Mustangs won in 2000 at UTEP. This is Fresno States first womens title. SMU won the mens side with 205 points, 70 coming from its throwers. UTEP was second with 170, while Boise State grabbed 120 points for third. Fresno State was fourth, while Rice, Louisiana Tech and Tulsa roudned out the mens field. For the women, Fresno State edged Rice by three points, 129-126. Taking third was Nevada with 119 points, while SMU earned a fourth-place finish. UTEPs 83 points were three better than Tulsa and its sixth-place finish. Louisiana Tech scored 65 points, Boise State earned 63 and Hawai`i landed 49 for ninth.
Day One Recap...Rices Ryan Walsh led the mens decathlon and Nevadas Erin Kelly led the womens heptathlon after the first day of competition in the multi events. Walsh had a five point advantage over Fresno States Josh Alfaro, 3,330 points to 3,325, heading into Thursdays competition. Walsh posted personal bests in two of the five events, and won the 400 meter with a time of 50.94. His shot put mark of 40-01 1/2 is a personal best, as is his high jump mark of 5-07. Walsh also had the fastest 100 meter dash time, clocking an 11.22. Alfaro cleared the high bar at 6-04 1/4, one of the top marks in the WAC this season. Justin Schwartz of Fresno State stands in third with 3,268, while UTEPs Steven Douglas is in fourth with 3,129 points. Rices Brad Butterfield is fifth with 2,781 points, and David Cardoza of Fresno State comes in at sixth with 2,123 points. For the women, Kelly has a 13 point lead over SMUs Stephanie Rombach, 3,190 to 3,177. The duo entered this weeks competition ranked first and second in the league, respectively, in the heptathlon, both having NCAA provisional qualifying marks. Kelly won the 100 hurdles and high jump, tying her season best high jump mark of 5-07. Rombach and Kelly were the top two finishers in the shot put, throwing 44-08 and 41-08 3/4, respectively. Nevadas Tara Maves finished the day in third with 3.135 points, while Boise States Sally Vail is fourth with 2,921 points. Rounding out the top five is Katie Christianson of Fresno State with 2,899 points.
Day Two Recap...Fresno States Justin Schwartz won the decathlon and Stephanie Rombach of SMU won the heptathlon on the second day of competition. Schwartz took the 2002 title with 6,018 points. His wins in the pole vault and long jump helped solidify his decathlon victory. Schwartz cleared the vault at 14-09 and posted a long jump leap of 20-04 on Wednesday. His total point mark is third best in the conference this season, behind Rices Ryan Harlan and Ryan Walsh. Walsh led the competition after the first day, but fell behind after a no height in the pole vault, one of his strongest events. Walsh won the javelin competition with a throw of 172-02, bettering his previous season best mark by over 10 feet. Schwartz teammate Josh Alfaro finished second in the competition with 5,845 points, with Walsh in third with 5,611 points. Fourth place went to UTEPs Steven Douglas with 5,252 points, while Rices Brad Butterfield took fifth with 5,203. After sitting out the 2000 and 2001 seasons rehabilitating a knee injury, Rombach roared back to win the 2002 WAC heptathlon title with a new Rice Track/Soccer Stadium record 5,268 points. The Germany native won the javelin and shot put events with marks of 139-05 and 44-08, respectively, and finished the final 800 meter event in second. Rombach edged day one leader Erin Kelly of Nevada in the final point standings by 30 points. Rombachs mark is also an NCAA provisional qualifying mark, and the best in the WAC this season. Kelly took second with 5,238 points, after leading the first day of competition by just 13 points. Teammate Tara Maves finished third with 5,210 points, Sally Vail of Boise State placed fourth with 4,863 points and Mara Brownson of Nevada rounded out the top five with 4,829 points. Rices Ruthann Gairdner scored two points for the Owls, finishing the eight-event competition in seventh with 4,677.
Day Three Recap...After a slight rain delay due to thunderstorms in the Houston area, preliminary competition was completed. Top qualifiers in the preliminary heats were as follows: womens 100 meters, Shana Robinson, Tulsa (11.72); mens 100 meters, Aaron Egbele, UTEP (10.39); womens 200 meters, Tracy Ball, SMU (23.62); mens 200 meters, Aaron Egbele, UTEP (21.03); womens 400 meters, Fagbamila Oluyemi, UTEP (52.67); womens 800 meters, Monica Joannes, Tulsa (2:09.96); mens 800 meters, Adam Davis, Rice (1:51.64); womens 100 meter hurdles, Keitha Moseley, Rice (13.94); womens 400 meter hurdles, Allison Beckford, Rice (58.81); mens 400 meter hurdles, Josef Rous, SMU (50.83). In the finals of the 3,000 meter steeplechase, Kara June of Fresno State won the womens competition with a time of 10:26.17, breaking her previous meet record of 10:53.83, set last year. Her time is also a new Rice Track/Soccer Stadium record, an NCAA provisional qualifying time, and a new WAC all-time record. For the men, Martin Allegyer of SMU won with an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 8:37.96. The final event of the evening was the 10,000 meters. UTEPs Ruben Diz ran away with the title in a time of 30:44.07. Previously this spring he provisionally qualified for the NCAA championships with a time of 29:11.16. The womens distance event was won by Cheryl Smith, the defending WAC champion, with a time of 36:25.92. Field event finals on Friday included the long jump, in which Ayanna Alexander of Louisiana Tech won the womens competition with a leap of 18-08 to earn 10 points for the Lady Techsters. Rices Moseley won the bronze with a mark of 18-08. For the men, Bobby Agins of UTEP took the title with a mark of 23-04 . Ryan Harlan of Rice finished fifth with a jump of 22-01 . In the womens javelin, Trina Roberts of Boise State won the 2002 title, posting a mark of 160-03. Her heave is a new meet record, the best mark in the WAC this season, and an NCAA provisional qualifying mark. For the men, UTEPs Janne Sakko automatically qualified for the national meet with a throw of 248-06, setting a new meet record, and narrowly missing the stadium record of 249-01.
Day Four Recap...Rices 4x400 meter relay crew of Adam Davis, Erik Mazza, Daniel Pessing and Ben Wiggins won the race with a time of 3:10.73, the best in the conference this season. The Owls Reed Ballis, in his final conference meet as an Owl, won the high jump with a jump of 6-11 . The Fresno State women dethroned host Rice, who had won the previous two outdoor championships, tallying 129 points to Rices 126. Nevada finished third with 119, while SMU placed fourth with 103 points. UTEP finished fifth with 83, followed by Tulsa with 80, Louisiana Tech with 65, Boise State with 63 and Hawaii with 49. The Owls Allison Beckford, who received the meets most outstanding female performance award, won the 400 meters with an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 51.86, and came back an hour later to win the 400 meter hurdle title with a time of 57.71. The Jamaica native ran the anchor leg on the Owls 4x400 meter relay that took second with a time of 3:37.54. Competition began earlier than originally scheduled due to the postponement of events from Friday because of thunderstorms that rolled through the Houston area. In one of the highlights of the day, SMUs Libor Charfreitag clearly won the mens hammer throw with a heave of 250-11, breaking the previous stadium record of 226-04 he set back in 1998, and setting a new WAC championship record. Charfreitag leads the nation in the hammer throw, and will look for a national title in two weeks. In the womens hammer, Kaisa Klintonen of UTEP took the title with a mark of 191-00. Klintonen has already automatically qualified for the NCAA championships with a throw of 197-02. SMUs stellar shot put champion, Janus Robberts, won his fourth straight title on Saturday with a new stadium record 69-01 . Earlier this season he threw 69-02 to automatically qualify for the NCAAs. The womens shot put was won by SMUs Ruta Rakstyte with a mark of 52-09 .
SMUs Dave Wollman was voted WAC mens coach of they year, while Fresno States Bob Fraley earned the honor on the womens side. Freshman of the year honors went to Hannes Hopley (men) and Karin van Rooyen (women), both of SMU. The meets outstanding performance award went to Allison Beckford of Rice and Janus Robberts of SMU, and the high point award winners were Crystal Simmons of Fresno State and Dalibor Balgac of SMU.
NCAA Outdoor ChampionshipThe 2002 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships are going to be held May 29-June1 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, hosted by LSU. The final entries for each race will be determined, Thursday evening, May 23. A total of 388 athletes will compete in the championships. Athletes qualify by reaching the automatic and provisional standards established for each event. Tennessee men were last years champion, while Southern Cal brought home the womens title.
Male WAC Automatic Qualifiers: Aaron Egbele:100m, UTEP; Martin Allgeyer;Steeplechase, SMU; Dalibor Balgac;5,000m, SMU; Janne Sakko:Javelin, UTEP; Justin St.Clair, Rob Minnitti: Javelin, Boise State; Libor Charfreitag: Hammer, SMU; Janne Vartia: Hammer, UTEP; Ryan Harlan: Decathlon, Rice
Female WAC Automatic Qualifiers: Allison Beckford:400m/400m Hurdles, Rice; Yemi Fagbamila;400m, UTEP; Karin van Rooyen;5,000m, SMU; Irache Quintanal, Ruta Rakstyte:Shot Put, SMU; Kaisa Kiintonen: Hammer, UTEP