Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
Mountain West Indoor Track & Field Championship
Women Lead, Men In Second After Day Two
2/24/2006 12:00:00 AM | Indoor Track & Field
Feb. 24, 2006
At the 2006 Mountain West Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships at the Albuquerque Convention Center, the Colorado State women's team is currently in first place with 73 points, winning four of the first six finals in the championship. The men's team, after six events, is in 2nd place with 67 points.
"I feel like we had an outstanding day today," said head coach Del Hessel. "I like our position in the meet and our entire team was very aggressive today. We need to continue to try harder tomorrow as we are in a battle with BYU and that's where we wanted to be."
Junior Kevin Johnson finished the heptathlon by posting personal bests in all three events en route to a third place finish in the heptathlon with an NCAA provisional qualifying total of 5,319 points. His total also breaks his own school record of 5,185 points from earlier this season. He began the day with an 8.33 in the 60 meter hurdles, then cleared 14-5.25 in the pole vault and ran a 2:57.35 in the 1000 meters.
In the first event on the track, senior Nicole Feest was in second place until the final lap, when she kicked it up a notch to win the 5000 meters with a Mountain West Championship time of 17:08.61, breaking the previous record of 17:23.03 by Tara Northcutt of BYU from 2005. She ends a stretch of six straight victories for BYU in the women's 5000 meters.
Junior Rob Watson followed up Feest's performance with a 5000 title of his own, winning the event with a track record time of 14:44.83. Freshman Logan Sherman also placed fourth in the race, running a 15:01.61.
"Beating BYU and winning both the men's and women's 5000 was historical," Hessel stated. "They both ran perfect races in terms of strategy and effort."
Senior Jill McCormick made it three golds in a row for the Rams as she won the weight throw with a toss of 64-2.25. The Rams went 1-3-5 in the event, as junior Jaimee Troth was third with a personal best throw of 60-5.75 and junior Haley Hunt moved from ninth after preliminaries to fifth with a personal best throw of 58-8.5.
For the first time in Mountain West Conference indoor track & field history, a team swept the top five spots in an event as the Ram men took first through fifth in the weight throw. Senior Nate Heyrman won the title with a season-best throw of 63-9.75, while junior Trey Eder was second at 63-9. Senior Jace Rivera was third, sophomore Jason Schutz was fourth and freshman Alex Godell placed fifth.
Junior Janay DeLoach won the women's long jump, leaping 20-0.5, while junior Katie Lloyd came back after yesterday's pentathlon to finish fourth with a jump of 18-10.5.
In the men's long jump, Johnson came back right after the conclusion of the 1000 meters in the heptathlon to finish sixth with a jump of 22-2.25, while sophomore Collin Ferguson tied for fourth place in the high jump after clearing 6-6. In the women's pole vault, sophomore Ashleigh Morton, who had a personal best yesterday in the pentathlon, came back today with a personal best vault of 11-1 to finish 14th.
"Katie Lloyd and Kevin Johnson are having outstanding meets," continued Hessel. "To have the ability to come back on the second day and score points -- and to be in finals tomorrow -- is very courageous. They are very valuable to the team."
In the final races on the track of the day, the women's distance medley team consisting of freshman Chantelle Dron, sophomore Emily Pearson, junior Danielle Korb and freshman Ashlee Velez finished second with a time of 12:03.26. The men's relay team made up of Scott Sanders, Dylan Spitzer, Steve Swartz and Ryan Kirkpatrick finished third with a time of 10:05.41.
In the women's 60 meter preliminaries, DeLoach broke the school record, qualifying with the second fastest time for the finals at 7.31. She breaks the previous record of 7.35 held by Brandi Bernert from 1999. Lloyd won her heat of the 60 meter hurdles to qualify for finals with a time of 8.84. Dron led from wire to wire in the first heat of the mile with a time of 5:10.98, while Korb also won her heat of the mile, finishing in 5:11.44. Junior Megan Fox won her heat of the 400 meters, the seventh of eight on the day, with a time of 56.75, grabbing her the final qualifying spot in the finals and also qualified fifth in the 200 meters with a time of 24.77. All three women in the 800 meters, sophomore Heather Loseke, sophomore Rebekah Yetzer and freshman Kristen Hemphill qualified for the finals tomorrow afternoon.
Senior Justin Hazzard and freshman Rashaun Greer both qualified for tomorrow's finals in the 60 meter hurdles, while none of the six Rams entered in the 60 meters advance to the finals. Junior Drew Morano won the second heat of the 400 meters in a tight race, crossing the finish line in 48.63. In the 200 meters, Morano ran a personal best 21.48 to qualify fourth.
The finals get underway Saturday morning at 10:30 with the women's high jump, while running events begin at 1:00 with the women's 60 meter hurdles.
