THIS WEEK IN THE WAC
Friday January 31
Grand Canyon at Ed Jacoby Invitational Boise, Idaho
Idaho at WSU Cougar Indoor Pullman, Wash.
New Mexico State/Texas-Pan American at Masked Rider Lubbock, Texas
Seattle U at UW Invitational Seattle, Wash.
Utah Valley at Mountain States Games Pocatello, Idaho
Saturday, February 1
Bakersfield at Northridge All Comers Northridge, Calif.
Chicago State at Illinois Wesleyan Titan Open Bloomington, Ill.
Grand Canyon at Ed Jacoby Invitational Boise, Idaho
Idaho at WSU Cougar Classic Pullman, Wash.
New Mexico State/Texas-Pan American at Masked Rider Lubbock, Texas
Seattle U at UW Invitational Seattle, Wash.
Utah Valley at Mountain States Games Pocatello, Idaho
LAST WEEK’S RESULTS
Bakersfield at Northern Arizona Invitational No Team Score
Chicago State at Bucknell Gulden Invitational M-7th, W-9th
Grand Canyon at Northern Arizona Invitational No Team Score
Idaho at Idaho Collegiate No Team Score
Idaho at Idaho Open No Team Score
Kansas City at Kansas State Invitational M-L(88-47), W-L(90-48)
New Mexico State at Cherry and Silver No Team Score
MEN’S ATHLETES OF THE WEEK, JAN. 20-26
Idaho’s Jesse Villines and Kansas City’s Kris Leverette have been named the Western Athletic Conference men’s track and field Athletes of the Week, respectively, for Jan. 20-26.
Villines, a junior from Soda Springs, Idaho (Soda Springs HS), ran in seven races for the Vandals over the two day, home meet series and hit career-best marks in each event. Villines hit two career-best marks on the first day in both the 60-meter Hurdles (8.56) and the 400m (48.79) during the Idaho Collegiate. The next day, at the Idaho Open, he hit two other career-best marks in both the 60m (7.01) and the 200m (21.78). His 200m time ranks third in the WAC this season.
Leverette, senior from Marietta, Ga. (Marietta HS), shattered the school record in the weight throw with a distance of 59-11.25 (18.27m) at the Kansas State Invitational. The throw was the best mark in the WAC this season. The victory was his third in four meets in the weight throw.
Other Track Nominees: DeShaunte Lewis, Chicago State … Stephan Bullard, Grand Canyon.
UMKC Athletics/MSH Photography Karlin Stewart, Grand Canyon … Zach Trumbauer, Idaho … Michael McPherson, Utah Valley.
WOMEN’S ATHLETES OF THE WEEK, JAN. 20-26
Grand Canyon’s Shavine Hodges and Kansas City’s Briana Carter have been named the Western Athletic Conference women’s track and field Athletes of the Week, respectively, for Jan. 20-26.
Hodges, a senior from Montego Bay, Jamaica (Colbourne College), won both the 60-meter dash and the 200-meter dash at the Northern Arizona Invitational. Hodges holds the fastest times in the WAC in both races. She was also part of the 4x400-meter relay team which finished second with a time of 3:55.40.
Carter, a junior from Warrensburg, Mo. (Warrensburg HS), was the winner in the triple jump with a leap of 39-3 (11.96m) at the Kansas State Invitational. It was Carter’s first event championship of the season. She also contributed to the 4x400-meter relay team that earned a second place finish.
Other Track Nominees: Zhate Jackson, Chicago State … Marquita Palmer, Idaho … Diana Hawk, New Mexico State.
Other Field Nominees: Jessica Yates, Grand Canyon … Adara Winder, Idaho … Taylor Black, New Mexico State.
TEAM RECAPS
Bakersfield Roadrunners
The Bakersfield began the season last weekend at the Northern Arizona Invitational in Flagstaff, Ariz. ... freshman Marina Emhoff paced her heat of the 400-meter dash, finishing with a time of 58.47, which was good enough for 13th out of a field of 22 ... junior Megan Thompson earned a sixth place finish in the 1000m (3:12.25) ... freshman LaShya Morgan performed well in the mile run, finishing ninth out of 17 runners, with a time of 5:39.26 ... sophomore Audrena Harlan also helped the underclassmen to represent CSU Bakersfield well as her long jump of 5.00m tied her for the top performance in her flight and ninth overall ... this week, the ‘Runner track and field women will head to Southern California for the Northridge All Comers meet on Saturday.
Chicago State Cougars
The Chicago State track and field teams competed at the Bucknell Gulden Invitational on Jan. 25 ... on the men’s side, junior
DeShaunte Lewis finished fourth in the 1000m with a time of 2:33.54, breaking David Comisky’s school record of 2:43.20, set in 2002 ... sophomore Kory Jackson (Blue Island, Ill./Eisenhower) used a jump of 7.04m to finish second in the long jump ... for the women, freshman Zhate Jackson earned a school record in the 500m ... Jackson’s time of 1:18.93 (sixth place) in the 500 meters is her third school record of her young career ... this week, Chicago State travels to the Illinois Wesleyan Titan Open in Bloomington, Ill.
Grand Canyon ‘Lopes
Grand Canyon competed in the Northern Arizona Invitational on Jan. 24-25 ... senior Karlin Stewart took home a second-place finish in the triple jump with a leap of 14.49 meters, which is the top jump in the WAC this season ... Shavine Hodges had a stellar showing in meet, as the senior raced to first and second-place finishes in the 60m (7.45) and 200m (24.17) ... Hodges earned her second WAC track Athlete of the Week honor in a row ... in the 3000m, Kelsi Klotter crossed the finish line with a time of 11:12.69, which set a new school record for the ‘Lopes and was good enough for fifth in the event ... in the men’s 60m hurdles it was LeSean Marks taking home a third-place finish with a time of 8.37 seconds ... making his season debut in the hurdles on Saturday, Marks was clocked with the third-fastest time in the WAC this season ... this week, the ‘Lopes travel to Boise, Idaho for the Ed Jacoby Invitational on Friday and Saturday.
Idaho Vandals
Idaho hosted two meets last weekend, the Idaho Collegiate on Friday and the Idaho Open on Saturday ... junior Jesse Villines ran in seven races for the Vandals over the two day home meet series and hit career-best marks in each event ... he was named WAC track Athlete of the Week for his efforts ... junior Zach Trumbauer hit a career-best mark in the weight throw with a career-best heave of 56-11 (17.36m), good for third best in the WAC this season ... sophomore Marquita Palmer took the victories in the mile run with a time of 5:01.53 and the 800m event with a career-best time of 2:13.44… her 800m time is the best in the WAC and her mile time ranks third best this season ... freshman Adara Winder finished fourth in the discus throw with a toss of 113-6 (34.59) ... this week, Idaho will travel to Pullman, Wash. on Friday and Saturday for the WSU Cougar Indoor.
Kansas City Kangaroos
The Kansas City track and field teams competed at the Kansas State Invitational ... the meet was scored as a dual and both teams fell to Kansas State, the men 88-47 and the women 90-48 ... senior Kris Leverette shattered the school record in the men’s weight throw with a distance of 59-11.25 (18.27m), the best mark in the WAC this season ... the victory was his third in four meets in the weight throw ... junior Briana Carter was the winner in the triple jump with a leap of 39-3 (11.96m) and also contributed to the 4x400-meter relay team that earned a second place finish ... both Carter and Leverette were named WAC field Athletes of the Week ... this week, Kansas City will be off, before returning to competition at the Adidas Invitational in Lincoln, Neb. on Feb. 7.
New Mexico State Aggies
NM State comes off the Cherry and Silver Invite (Jan. 25), where several athletes performed well enough to move into the top 10 all-time for the Aggies ... senior Alishia Perkins competed in the 200-meter dash, where she finished 20th in a field of 93 runners ... freshman Paige Patterson competed in the 400-meter dash, where she finished with a time of 56.97, which moved her into fourth all-time for NM State ... junior Diana Hawk competed in the mile run, where she finished 14th in a field of 50 runners with a time of 5:09.74 ... NM State continues to look to the improvement of freshman thrower Akuadasou Ezenyilimba, who competed in the 20-pound weight throw and the shot put ... the Aggies travel to Lubbock, Texas to compete in the Masked Rider Invite on Jan. 31-Feb. 1.
Seattle University Redhawks
The Seattle University track and field team was off last weekend ... SU opened the 2014 spring season at the UW Indoor Preview on Jan. 18 ... Shaddye Melu cleared 2.09 meters (6’10.25”) in the high jump, a height never cleared before by a Redhawk, to finish in a tie for third place in his flight and a tie for fourth place overall ... Melu also competed in the 200-meter dash, finishing second in his heat and 14th overall with a time of 22.63 seconds ... Rosalyn DiLillo won her heat of the 600m in 1:40.78, almost three full seconds faster than her previous best set at this meet two years ago and setting a school record in the process ... this week, Seattle U will return to action on at the UW Invitational on Friday and Saturday.
Texas-Pan American Broncs
The Broncs opened their season Jan. 17 at the Texas A&M 12-Team Invitational where UTPA recorded 10 top-five finishes ... senior Dijan Johnson broke two school records en route to two top-three finishes in the 200m (21.87) and 400m (48.31) dashes ... senior Martin Casse won the mile run with a time of 4:11.73, which is the second fastest time in program history ... he finished six seconds in front of the second place finisher ... junior Jasmine Davison finished third in the weight throw with a mark of 16.80m, while senior Jesus Alvarez finished third in the shot put with a mark of 14.50m ... the Broncs will be back in action on Friday and Saturday at the Masked Rider Open at Texas Tech, where they will be in action against fellow WAC opponent New Mexico State.
Utah Valley Wolverines
Junior Michael McPherson was the lone Wolverine to compete this past weekend as he took part at the Air Force Invitational in USAF Academy, Colo ... McPherson won the long jump at the meet as he tied the UVU school record that he previously set this season with a leap of 7.40-meters (24-03.50) ... the UVU junior also competed in the heptathlon at the meet and set new personal bests in both the 60-meter hurdles (8.33) and the pole vault (4.20m) ... McPherson ended up tying for 10th in the heptathlon with 0 points after faulting in the long jump ... the UVU junior’s mark of 7.40m in the long jump is good enough to lead the WAC and ranks him 28th nationally ... the Wolverines are back in action on Friday and Saturday at the Mountain States Open in Pocatello, Idaho.