Colorado State University Athletics
Track & Field Splits Into Three Groups This Weekend
1/24/2007 12:00:00 AM | Indoor Track & Field
Jan. 24, 2007
Week Three Notes
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Doing Everything: The Rams will send a quartet of multi-event athletes to Albuquerque for the Roger Cox Multis on Thursday and Friday. Seniors Kevin Johnson (ranked 12th in this week's Dandy Dozen) and Katie Lloyd, the school record holders in the heptathlon and pentathlon, respectively, along with juniors Tonya Cure and Emily Pearson will compete.
Splitting Up: Colorado State will send several distance athletes back to Lincoln for the adidas Classic on Saturday, while the rest of the team will head south to compete in the Don Barrett Open, hosted by the Air Force Academy.
Two For Two: For the second consecutive week, a Colorado State student-athlete has been awarded the Mountain West Conference Athlete of the Week Award. This week's honor belongs to junior Drew Morano, who provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships in the 400 meters, running a personal best time of 47.25 -- which also ranks second in school history and third in Mountain West history. Morano also won the 200 meters with a personal best time of 21.40, which ranks fourth in CSU history. Last week, senior Janay DeLoach won the women's award for her efforts at the Wyoming Open.
Etching His Name: Sophomore Scott Sanders was a double champion at the Conference Challenge Meet, winning the 800 meters and mile. Sanders ran a 1:52.39 for the seventh fastest time in CSU history in the 800 meters and posted a time of 4:08.37 in the mile, the sixth fastest at Colorado State.
Making Her Mark: Freshman Tanesha Johnson has already made quite an impression after just two weeks of competition. Johnson ranks sixth on the school's triple jump charts with a leap of 37-11.25 and her time of 7.88 in the 60 meters ranks ninth.
Team Scoring: At the Conference Challenge, hosted by the University of Nebraska on Saturday, the Rams had their first taste of team scoring. Colorado State combined with Air Force to make up Team MWC, while Nebraska, Air Force and Missouri were Team Big 12. One of the Big 12 team's entries did not count in each event to even the stakes and at the end of the day, the Big 12 defeated the MWC, 223-144.
Title Winners: At the two meets last weekend, several Rams brought home titles. Drew Morano won the 200 and 400 meters for the men at the Conference Challenge, while Scott Sanders won the 800 and mile. Senior Rob Watson won the 3000 and junior Andres Urbina won the 5000. For the women, Janay DeLoach won the 60 meters and junior April Thomas was victorious in the 3000 meters. At the Potts Invitational, freshmen Kristen Kugler and Sonni Russell won the high jump, freshman Ryan Billups won the long jump and sophomore Alex Godell won the weight throw.
A Broken Record: For the third time in her career, Janay DeLoach has broken the Colorado State indoor long jump record. DeLoach automatically qualified for the NCAA Championship, winning the Wyoming Open with her record leap of 21-0.75. It is also the third best leap in Mountain West Conference history. For her efforts at the Wyoming Open, she was named the Mountain West Athlete of the Week.
In Defense: The women's team looks to defend its 2006 Mountain West Conference title in 2007. The Rams won the crown in exciting fashion, winning the first heat of the 4x400 relay to defeat perennial champions BYU, 156.5-155.5. The women return 18 off that championship roster, including Mountain West Conference High Point Award Winner Nicole Feest, who won both the 3000 and 5000 meters a year ago and Janay DeLoach, who finished 14th in the 60 meters at the NCAA Championship.
Personal Bests: Several Rams posted a personal best mark in an event over the weekend. That list follows with the event the mark was made. Women: Kirsten Anthony (1000, mile); Teresa Bell (800); Jessica Bruha (60), Kate Colvin (pole vault); Tonya Cure (600 yards); Beth Dunfield (5000); Kendall Evans (60, 200); Chardae Hancock (60, 60 hurdles); Kristen Hemphill (3000); Tanesha Johnson (60, triple jump); Liz Kramer (800); Kristen Kugler (60 hurdles, 600 yards, high jump); Heather Loseke (mile); Sarah Manuel (60 hurdles, 600 yards); Emily Patton (triple jump); Emily Pearson (400); Danielle Rawlings (5000); Niomi Ridge (600 yards); Sonni Russell (60 hurdles, 600 yards, high jump, long jump); Alison Taylor (1000); April Thomas (3000). Men: Ryan Billups (long jump, triple jump); Doug Dieker (pole vault); Bryan Dillon (1000); Grant Duin (800); Jeremy Freed (mile); Alex Godell (weight throw); Kevin Johnson (60 hurdles); Zach Jordan (60, 60 hurdles); Kyle Keeler (600 yards); Ryan Kirkpatrick (5000); Derek Mansur (high jump); Robbie Marin (60 hurdles, 400); Scott Sanders (800, mile); Sulaiman Sayyid (60); Jason Smith (triple jump); Tim Sterrenburg (60 hurdles, 400); Kip Taylor (1000); Cole Tucker (400); Andres Urbina (5000); Kevin Wills (high jump).
Roster Breakdown: Fifteen states and four countries are represented on the 2007 Rams' rosters. Besides the United States, the Rams have student-athletes from Canada (Ontario), Australia and Sweden. The majority of the rosters (74) are home-grown, hailing from the state of Colorado, while there are four each from California and Oregon, three from Arizona and New Mexico, two each from Kansas, South Dakota and Texas and one from Illinois, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio and Utah.