Colorado State University Athletics
Track & Field Update ? June 19
6/19/2003 12:00:00 AM | Outdoor Track & Field
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Twice The All-American: At the 83rd annual NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championship, senior Drew Loftin earned All-American honors twice. In the hammer, he placed second with a throw of 222-6, while he finished seventh in the discus after a throw of 187-9. Loftin ends his career as a three-time Division I All-American after earning the honor during the indoor season in the weight throw after placing second.
NCAA Recap: Day One: Sophomore Mike Nicks broke the school record for the second straight competition, running an 8:43.67 to snag the last qualifying spot for finals. Nicks finished 14th overall and ninth in the second heat of the evening. Nicks broke his own school record of 8:48.59 from the NCAA Regionals on June 2. Drew Loftin qualified for the finals in the hammer throw after placing fifth in the preliminaries with a throw of 215-5. Sophomore Adam Trainor finished 23rd overall, missing qualifying for finals after his toss of 190-6. Junior Keela Niemeyer finished eighth in the second flight and 23rd overall in the preliminaries of the discus with a toss of 145-5, failing to qualify for the finals. Also missing finals was senior Meg Larson in the steeplechase. Larson turned in a time of 10:39.33 in the second heat to finish 12th and 24th overall to end a storied career at Colorado State. She ends her career as the school record holder in the steeplechase with a time of 10:10.16. Day Two: Loftin released the sixth best throw in the preliminaries of the discus to advance to finals. Senior Brian Trainor, who has been suffering from a wrist injury of late, did not qualify for finals after throwing 177-2 to finish 18th. In the finals of the 10,000 meters, senior Dylan Olchin placed 24th overall after running a 30:07.79 and redshirt freshman Paul Michel failed to make the finals of the 1500 meters after placing 25th with a time of 4:01.39. The lone female to compete, Niemeyer was fifth in her flight and 17th overall in the shot put with a throw of 50-8.75. Days Three and Four: Loftin finished second in the hammer after a throw of 222-6. He also placed seventh in the discus on Saturday evening, becoming a two-time All-American in the span of 48 hours. Loftin entered the hammer throw with the best throw in the nation this season and finished second behind Lucais MacKay of Georgia, who threw 230-3 to win the event. In the discus, Loftin threw 187-9 to finish seventh. Loftin ends the year with the best throw by an NCAA student-athlete at 233-0, which is the school and Mountain West Conference record. Nicks ran on Friday evening in the finals of the steeplechase. He finished 14th with a time of 9:04.71. Loftin scored 10 points for the Rams (8 hammer, 2 discus) to earn the team a tie for 24th place.
Home Grown: In the final outdoor track and field team power rankings, the Colorado State men rank eighth. The Team Power Ranking is a unique system of ranking teams on the basis of quality of athletic performance, team depth, and dual meet scoring potential. The system rates teams in the same fashion as decathlete or hepthatlete. Points are assigned for two student-athletes in each event contested in a dual meet and points assigned on the basis of quality of performance. The top person in each event has his/her points doubled to adjust for the value of the number one performer on each team in a dual meet. The points for all events are then totaled for the ranking score. In every event for the men?s team, the top two times or marks are recorded by a student-athlete from Colorado. No other school in the top 25 can claim that feat.
USA Championships: This weekend in Sacramento the USA Track & Field Championships will take place. The Rams have two current student-athletes and two former student-athletes in competition. On Thursday, both senior Brian Trainor and former NCAA Champion Casey Malone will be competing in the discus. On Friday, Drew Loftin will throw the hammer and former NCAA Champion Bryan Berryhill will compete in the 1500 meters. Malone graduated from Colorado State in 2000, while Berryhill graduated in 200.
Records: Colorado State saw three school records fall during the season. In the men?s hammer throw, Drew Loftin broke the record with his throw of 233-0 at the Mountain West Championship. The other two records were both broken by sophomores. Katrice Thomas broke the school record in the 400 meters at the Mountain West Championship. She ran a 53.64 to finish second, breaking the school record of 54.43 held by Andrea Bush from 1990. Mike Nicks broke the school record for the second time this season in the preliminaries of the NCAA Championship in the 3000 meter steeplechase. Nicks ran an 8:43.67 to qualify for finals.
All-Everything: Drew Loftin was named the Mountain West Conference Championship Outstanding Male Performer of the Meet at New Mexico. Loftin was also named the High Point Scorer of the Meet after scoring 30 points by winning the discus, hammer and shot put. His hammer throw of 233-0 broke the all-time Mountain West Conference mark and broke the Colorado State school record, both of which he set earlier this season.
Academic Success: Junior Christine Ahn was recently named to the Verizon Academic All-American Third Team. The pole vaulter from Santa Monica, California holds a perfect 4.00 grade point average in psychology. She also holds the school record in the pole vault in both indoor and outdoor competition and has recently begun competing in the javelin for the Rams. Ahn was forwarded to the national ballot after being named to the Verizon Academic All-America District VII team, along with teammates Meg Larson and Mike Nicks, who were both named to the second teams.
Champions: Drew Loftin won three events (discus, hammer and shot put) at the 2003 Mountain West Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championship, while senior Chris Riggs won the 200 meters, sophomore Jacob Benson was victorious in the high jump and Mike Nicks brought home the individual title in the steeplechase for the Rams. Since the inception of the Mountain West Conference in 2000, the Rams have won a total of 18 individual titles (five in 2002, three in 2001 and four in 2000) and one relay on the men?s side. The women?s team has won a total of nine individual events over the four years (four in 2002, three in 2001 and two in 2000). The men?s team finished second with 230 points this season and the women were third with 101 points.
All-Conference: A total of 20 student-athletes were named to the 2003 Mountain West All-Conference team. The list follows:
Jacob Benson - high jump, long jump
James Cale - hammer
Katie Hansen - discus
Mike Horton - 110 hurdles
Haley Hunt - hammer
Brian Kelly - 800 meters
Kim Leal - 10,000 meters
Drew Loftin - shot put, discus, hammer
Hannah Metzler - shot put, hammer
Bill Michel - 1500 meters
Mike Nicks - steeplechase
Keela Niemeyer - shot put
Dylan Olchin - 10,000 meters
Chris Riggs - 100, 200 meters
Raegan Robb - steeplechase
Katrice Thomas - 400 meters
Adam Trainor - hammer
Brian Trainor - discus
John Woods - 100 meters
Katie Yemm - 1500 meters
Honored: Colorado State had three student-athletes named Mountain West Conference Outdoor Track & Field Athlete of the week a total of four times throughout the season. Senior Drew Loftin was honored twice (May 6 and April 7), while sophomores Katrice Thomas (April 29) and Mike Nicks (April 22) were both named athlete of the week once.
NLI: The following student-athletes have signed National Letter of Intents to compete at Colorado State next season.
Tonya Cure (Idalia, CO/Idalia HS -- heptathlon)
Janay Deloach (Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska -- sprints, long jump)
Collin Ferguson (Fort Collins/Fort Collins HS -- sprints, high jump)
Megan Fox (Fort Collins/Fort Collins HS -- sprints)
Stacy Hancock (Niwot, CO/Niwot HS -- jumps)
Katie Lloyd (Fruita, CO/Fruita Monument HS -- heptathlon)
Emily McGregor (Tucson, AZ/Marana Mountain View HS -- distance)
Valerie McGregor (Tucson, AZ/Marana Mountain View HS -- distance)
April Thomas (Eaglecrest, CO/Eaglecrest HS -- distance)
Megan Trotter (Rapid City, SD/Central HS -- sprints)
Rebekah Yetzer (Lakeville, MN/Lakeville HS -- distance)
Kevin Johnson (Aurora, CO/Overland HS -- decathlon, triple jump)
Denny Majerus (Fort Collins/Rocky Mountain HS -- sprints, long jump)
Drew Morano (Overland Park, KS/St. Thomas Aquinas HS -- sprints)
Mark Phipps (Fort Collins/Poudre HS -- shot put)
