Kemboi Defends 10K Title as Utah Valley Women, Southern Utah Men Lead At WAC Championships
Kemboi Defends 10K Title as Utah Valley Women, Southern Utah Men Lead At WAC Championships
NACOGDOCHES, Texas – After local flooding hit Nacogdoches County, Texas early Thursday morning, the skies cleared for an exciting opening day at the 2023 WAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
The multis were delayed by only an hour as the running events were held at Homer Bryce Stadium at Stephen F. Austin, while the shot put and high jump for those events were moved to nearby Nacogdoches High School.
The throws area was underwater to begin the day, but the hard-working crew at SFA cleared things up enough for the men’s javelin throw competition on Thursday evening.
The Lumberjacks’ Izac Canchola won the javelin throw with a toss of 66.29 meters, with Grand Canyon’s Walter Moffett taking second and Utah Valley’s Nick Forsyth in third.
Rachel Maciejeski of Sam Houston is the WAC Champion in the women’s pole vault with a mark of 4.02 meters. Abilene Christian’s Payton Kirk is second followed by Simona Cabella of UT Arlington.
The 10,000 meter runs closed out the first day of competition as Utah Valley’s Habtamu Cheney is the WAC men’s champion in a time of 30:45.5. Southern Utah’s Travis Feeny is second with fellow Thunderbird Max Jones in third.
On the women’s side Utah Valley’s Everlyn Kemboi defended her WAC 10k championship in a time of 34:12.36 with Wolverines teammate Mazzie Melaney taking second place and New Mexico State’s Emily Stutesman in third.
After two events, Utah Valley leads in the women’s team standings with 21, while Southern Utah holds the lead on the men’s side with 21.
Team Standings
Day two of the WAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships will begin at 930 am CDT at Homer Bryce Stadium in Nacogdoches. Live coverage will be on ESPN+ at 430 CDT with Chase Merrell and Kyle Charbonneau.
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