THIS WEEK IN WAC OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD - This week, Idaho, New Mexico State and Louisiana Tech will all send athletes to the famous Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays in Austin, Tex. Boise State will host the All-Idaho Collegiate Classic. Idaho will also send athletes to Boise.
The Utah State Aggies head to the Northwest to compete in the Oregon Invitational in Eugene, while Fresno State and Hawai?i travel to Sacramento, Calif., to try to better their marks in the Sacramento Elite.
MEN’S ATHLETES OF THE WEEK (March 23-29)
DENVER ? Fresno State’s Frank Sanders and Louisiana Tech’s Larry Jones have been named Western Athletic Conference Men’s Track and Field Athletes of the Week, respectively, for March 23-29.
Sanders, a junior from Turlock, Calif. (Pitman HS), ran a WAC-best and NCAA Regional Qualifying time in the 1,500m at the Stanford Invitational Friday. The Bulldog leads his teammate, Eric Battles, who is in second in the standings, by seven seconds. This is the second time in his three-year career he has earned the WAC Track Athlete of the Week award.
Jones, a sophomore from Ruston, La. (Ruston HS), improved on his NCAA Regional Qualifying mark in the discus last weekend at the Jim Mize Invitational. He threw a WAC-best 174’ 3.50” (53.12m), winning the event. Jones also took first place in the javelin (191’ 3”) and the shot put (51’ 4.50”) on the weekend. He is the only WAC athlete to post a regional qualifying mark in the discus. This marks the second time in his two-year career that Jones has garnered the WAC honor.
Other track nominees included: Idaho’s Josh Dalton.
Other field nominees included: Idaho’s Eugenio Mannucci and Fresno State’s Tim Greene.
WOMEN’S ATHLETES OF THE WEEK (March 23-29)
DENVER ? Nevada’s Christa Avena and Hawai?i’s Annett Wichmann have been named Western Athletic Conference Track and Field Athletes of the week, respectively, for March 23-29.
Avena, a senior from Las Vegas, Nev. (Bishop Gorman HS), recorded an NCAA Regional Qualifying time in the 3,000m steeplechase with a time of 10:47.21 at the Cal-Nevada Championships last weekend. Her time stands as the best in the conference this year and third on Nevada’s all-time list. Not only is her time the best in the WAC but is 20th in the nation.
Wichmann, a senior from Jena, Germany (SportGymnasium Jena), earned an NCAA Regional Qualifying mark in the javelin last weekend with a throw of 163-11 (49.96m) at the Stanford Invitational. The mark was a personal best and a new UH record, breaking the previous record, which she held by more than two meters. It stands as the fourth-best throw in the nation and marks the second-straight year that Wichmann has attained a regional standard in the javelin.
Other track nominees included: Fresno State’s Latrisha Jordan, Idaho’s Heather Bergland and New Mexico State’s Leah Benton.
Other field nominees included: Fresno State’s Sharon Ayala, Idaho’s Anne Barnett, Louisiana Tech’s Nadia Alexander, Nevada’s Constance McAlman and New Mexico State’s Corissa Hutchinson.
TEAM NOTES
Boise State Broncos
Boise State will open the 2009 outdoor season April 3, as the Broncos are set to host the All-Idaho Collegiate Championships ... the meet, which concludes on Saturday, will feature five colleges and universities from the state of Idaho ... student-athletes from Boise State, Idaho State, Northwest Nazarene, College of Idaho and Lewis Clark State College will be participating in the meet ... the Bronco men enter the outdoor season coming off a 2009 WAC Indoor Championship ... the Boise State women earned a third-place finish at the WAC Indoor Championship meet ... combined, the men and women broke five school records during the indoor season ... the Boise State men received a top-25 national ranking this week in the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association preseason poll ... the men enter the outdoor season ranked No. 22 amongst NCAA Division I programs ... the Bronco women are ranked No. 58 by the poll heading into their first outdoor meet of the season.
Fresno State Bulldogs
The Bulldogs wrapped up the Cal-Nevada Championships in Los Angeles Sunday, taking sixth on the women’s side and seventh in the men’s competition ... the women’s team finished in sixth with 49 points in the 24-team field ... the men amassed 51 points among the 22 teams competing ... Latrisha Jordan highlighted the day for the women, continuing her dominance in the 400-meter hurdles ... Jordan reset the Fresno State record for the event with a first-place finish, clocking in at 58.69 seconds ... Tim Greene picked up a fourth-place finish in the hammer throw with a mark of 189-11 (57.89m) ... Frank Sanders garnered WAC Track Athlete of the Week honors by running to regional qualifying mark in the 1,500m ... Raul Gonzalez added to the Bulldog success in throws, nabbing eighth in the event with a new personal-best 181-10 (55.42m), beating his former mark by more than two feet ... Max Hernandez led the Bulldogs on the track, taking seventh in the 10,000 ... the sophomore timed a personal-best 32:13.55 ... this week, Fresno State travels to Sacramento, Calif., to compete in the Sacramento Elite.
Hawai?i Rainbow Wahine
During the two-day competition at the Stanford Invitational, a total of four Rainbow Wahine earned NCAA Regional qualifying marks, adding to their season total of seven after just two meets in the outdoor season ... last season, UH sent a school-record nine athletes to the NCAA West Regional ... Emma MacCorquodale won the collegiate division of the hammer throw (172-3/52.51m), in a field that also included teammates Anika Borden (149-0/45.41m) and Careena Onosai (137-6/41.90m) ... MacCourquodale set a new seasonal-best with her throw and just missed regional standard and her personal best by less than two meters ... Annett Wichmann took home WAC Field Athlete of the week honors after she earned an NCAA Regional qualifying mark in the javelin last weekend with a throw of 163-11 (49.96m) ... the mark was a personal best and a new UH record, breaking the previous record, which she held by more than two meters ... It stands as the fourth-best throw in the nation and marks the second-straight year that Wichmann has attained a regional standard in the javelin ... the Rainbow Wahine compete at the Sacramento Elite this week.
Idaho Vandals
Four Idaho athletes met the NCAA Regional qualifying standard over the weekend at the Stanford Invitational ... senior Matt Wauters met the regional standard for the fourth consecutive year in the hammer, while senior Kyle Hook earned his second straight regional trip in the javelin ... senior Evan Ruud and sophomore Eugenio Mannucci each earned their first career NCAA Regional marks in their first career meet for Idaho ... for the women, Idaho sent a small group of competitors to Palo Alto, Calif., for the Stanford Invitational ... many freshman athletes competed for the first time outdoors and achieved personal bests in their respective events ... junior Anne Barnett took third in the collegiate section of the women’s javelin throw at the Stanford Invitational on Friday, as she threw 133-11 (40.82m) ... this week, the Vandals will send athletes to the Clyde Littlefield Relays in Austin, Texas and to Boise to compete in the All-Idaho Collegiate Championships.
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs
Coming off of 19 first-place finishes at the Jim Mize Invitational in Ruston last weekend, Louisiana Tech hits the road to Texas to compete in the Clyde Littlefield Relays in Austin this week ... last time out, the Techsters were led on the day by the team’s two regional qualifiers in senior Nadia Alexander and sophomore Larry Jones ... Alexander finished first in the meet in the shot put improving her regional qualifying mark from last week with a throw of 51 feet ... Last week, Alexander’s regional qualifying throw was measured at 50’ 3.50” ... Alexander also finished first in the discus throw with a toss of 138’ 11.50” ... Antoinette Cobb was a double winner on the afternoon, finishing first in the 100m hurdles with a time of 14.37 seconds and the 400m hurdles at 1:03.89 ... winning the 100m dash on the men’s side for Tech was Josh Harvey with a time of 10.75 seconds, a WAC-best ... Harvey also finished second in the 200 with a time of 22.39 seconds.
Nevada Wolf Pack
The Wolf Pack competed in the Cal-Nevada Championships last weekend with senior Analisa Serrano highlighting the event for Nevada as she recorded a regional qualifying time in the 100m hurdles with a time of 13.87 on the final day ...
collectively, the team finished in eighth place with 44 points ... Costance McAlman placed fourth in the discus with a throw of 46.17m (151-06) ... she also recorded a season-best mark in the shot put with a mark of 13.06m (42-10.25) ... Aurelia Houston just missed the finals of the triple jump, placing 10th with a mark of 11.40m (37-05.00) ... Nevada owns top conference marks in 5,000m, 10,000m, 100m hurdle and the 3,000m steeplechase ... in the steeplechase, senior Christa Avena took home WAC Track Athlete of the Week honors after her regional qualifying time of 10:47.21 ... the team takes a week off to prepare for its next meet at the Woody Wilson Invitational in Davis, Calif., on April 10-11.
New Mexico State Aggies
The New Mexico State women’s track and field team posted multiple strong marks at the Springtime Invitational, Saturday, in El Paso, Texas ... highlighting all Aggie performances was junior thrower Corissa Hutchinson, who posted a regional mark in the shut put, she recorded a personal-best distance of 47-09.00, which placed her second overall ... Hutchinson also placed second in the discus with a launch of 150-03 ... junior sprinter Leah Benton brought home gold in the 200m dash ... for the second week in a row, Benton brought home the gold medal in the 200m dash after crossing the line in a time of 24.24 ... Benton also placed fourth in the 100m dash with a time of 12.02 ... New Mexico State is back in action, Friday, April 3 and Saturday, April 4 at the invitational only, Texas Relays in Austin, Texas.
Utah State Aggies
After a week off of competition, the Aggie men’s and women’s teams will be splitting up for their next action on Friday and Saturday, April 3-4, with some athletes going to Eugene, Ore., for the Oregon Invitational, while others will be going to Provo, Utah for the BYU Invitational ... currently, five USU athletes have posted regional qualifying marks or times after only the first weekend of competition ... of those five, Nick Karren, Clint Silcock and Sonia Grabowska all hold the top marks in the conference in the 400m hurdles, high jump and pole vault, respectively ... additionally, Nick Karren owns the WAC’s best time in the 400m while Elaine Connolly holds the conference’s best 800m time ... junior Erin Stratton has a WAC-best time of 4:34.55 in the 1,500m.