Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
Mountain West Indoor Track & Field Championship
Women Win MWC Indoor Track & Field Championship
2/25/2006 12:00:00 AM | Indoor Track & Field
Feb. 25, 2006
The women's competition at the 2006 Mountain West Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships at the Albuquerque Convention Center came down to the final race, the mile relay, as BYU held a one-point lead over the Rams going in.
Junior Megan Fox opened the relay in the lead and handed off to junior Janay DeLoach, who held on to the lead. DeLoach gave the baton to sophomore Rebekah Yetzer who was passed by New Mexico's Shakira Williams, but CSU sophomore Emily Pearson regained the lead in the final 100 meters to give the Rams a new school record at 3:49.10. The quartet breaks the old record of 3:49.54 from the 2005 season. Both Fox and Pearson were on the old record holding team, as well as Katrice Thomas and Becky Hammitt. CSU and BYU then had to await the second section of the 4x400 relay for scores, as TCU, San Diego State and UNLV all finished the second heat with faster times than the first section. With the victory in the relay, however, the Rams won the meet, 156.5 to 155.5, becoming the first team other than BYU in Mountain West Conference history to win a women's indoor title.
Head Coach Del Hessel was awarded the Mountain West Conference Women's Coach of the Year after leading his team to the title.
"This is probably, truly, the highlight of my coaching career," said Hessel. "I have had many, many great athletes in my career, but this was a complete team effort and was certainly a thrill. In this meet, we were 100 percent effort in everything they did. They all competed to the best of their ability, whether they won their event or were in the pack competing with everything. In a meet like this, it is impossible to pick an individual to highlight because all of them were heroes."
The men's team finished second for the fourth straight year, tallying 143 points behind BYU's 206 and in front of TCU's 106.
Junior Nicole Feest, who ran second throughout most of the 3000 meters, took the lead with about 600 meters remaining and never looked back, winning her second title of the championship after bringing home the 5000 meter title yesterday, won the event in 9:47.68, provisionally qualifying for the NCAA Championship. Feest was honored as the women's high point award winner after scoring 20 points.
The women's team picked up where it left off on Friday, winning the field events. Junior Rae Backes won the high jump with a personal best clearance of 5-10, bettering her previous best jump by four inches. Her height is also an NCAA provisional qualifying mark.
The men's shot putters also had a great day, with five athletes scoring. Nate Heyrman became a double champion, winning both the shot put and weight throw, while senior Matt McKinney second, junior Trey Eder third, senior Jace Rivera fifth and Alex Godell seventh. Heyrman shared the men's high point award with BYU's David Pendergrass, who also won two events -- the high jump and triple jump.
Colorado State finished 2-3 in the women's shot put, with junior Jaimee Troth taking second with a personal best throw of 47-1.5 and senior Jill McCormick placing third with a throw of 45-10.75. Senior Amanda Huddleston-Miller, who injured her groin in the long jump yesterday, came back to place third in the triple jump with a leap of 39-8.5.
The first event on the track saw junior Katie Lloyd tie her personal best in the 60 meter hurdles to finish sixth. In the 60 meters, DeLoach took second with a time of 7.33. Fox placed seventh in both the 200 and 400 meters. Junior Danielle Korb placed third in the mile, running over 10 seconds faster than the preliminaries, clocking in at 5:01.03, while freshman Chantelle Dron was seventh in 5:04.19. Freshman Kristen Hemphill was fifth in the 800 meters with a personal best time of 2:16.53.
For the men, senior Justin Hazzard won a photo finish in the 60 meter hurdles, running an 8.03, while freshman Rashaun Greer clocked an 8.25 to place fourth. Junior Rob Watson finished second in the 3000 meters behind multiple-time All-American Kip Kangogo of TCU.
Sophomore Jarelle Johnson earned all-conference honors with a personal best jump of 48-3.25 to finish third in the triple jump and sophomore Jason Smith placed sixth. In the mile, the Rams finished 5-6, with sophomore Steve Swartz in fifth and freshman Scott Sanders in sixth. Junior Denny Majerus was eighth in the 200 meters and junior Drew Morano withdrew from both the 200 and 400 finals after suffering an injury during warm-ups. Sophomore Brandon Mora cleared a personal best 16-3.5 in the men's pole vault to finish eighth.
Colorado State now awaits word on how many athletes will advance to the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championship in two weeks, which will be held at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
