Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
Tom Benich Classic
CSU track and field has great Tom Benich Classic
4/5/2008 12:00:00 AM | Outdoor Track & Field
April 5, 2008
GREELEY, Colo. - The Colorado State track and field team had another great weekend in North Colorado, setting several regional qualifying marks and personal bests at the Tom Benich Classic hosted by the University of Northern Colorado.
"I think we had a very good day," said Head Coach Brian Bedard. "Tanesha (Johnson) had a great meet. It was great to see her run that race with confidence. I think Missy Faubus had an outstanding meet. She won the shot and the discus with a huge improvement in the discus. An all-time record for her and it was her best throw in almost three years. It puts her third or fourth on our all-time. Niomi Ridge won the high jump, which was a great surprise for us. We just put her in that and she just really did a nice job.
"Ryan Billups won the triple jump with a personal best. Jason Shutz with his hammer mark with a great throw, it was probably the highlight of the meet for the men. It is about an eight-foot personal best. Al (Alex Godell) was second in the hammer. "
Johnson won the triple jump, with a leap that was just over a foot past her previous best in a wind-legal NCAA regional qualifying mark. The jump of 41-2.25 was a meet record. In addition to her win in the triple, she won the 400m dash. The race was her first foray into the 400m in her college career, setting a personal best by almost five seconds. Ashleigh Morton won the pole vault. Michelle Roberts finished third in the long jump event. Ridge won the high jump and placed third in the 100m hurdles.
The Rams took five of the top six spots in the women's hammer throw. Stacey Poulos was second, followed by Meagan Berg, Amanda Johnson, Leah Elmshauser and Faubus. Faubus won the shot put with a toss of 14.73m, which set a meet record by almost one and a half feet and Jennifer Ugochukwu earned the second spot. Faubus also won the discus, with Berg in third and Hillary Fraser in fifth.
For the men, Schutz and Godell finished one-two in the shot put event. Schutz finished fourth in the discus, the top collegiate finisher in the event, with Godell and Cameron Carter just behind him in fifth and sixth respectively. Ian Lettow was third in the shot put event. Ryan Billups jumped to the win in the triple jump and followed that performance up with a third-place finish in the men's long jump. Ryan Pahlau won the pole vault. Alex Lockhart was second in the high jump.
Cole Tucker ran to a second-place finish in the 400m race. Nigel Joseph won the 400m hurdles. Jake Kiser won the 3,000m steeple chase, with Scott Sanders finishing third and Kurtis Vanatta taking the fifth spot.
At the Stanford Invitational, Kirsten Anthony earned the 16th place in the 5,000m event. Janay DeLoach had the most successful meet for the Rams, winning the long jump with a leap of 6.45m (19-8.25) and earning the top qualifying time in the 100m dash. Kristen Hemphill finished tenth in the 3,000m steeplechase with a personal best and regional qualifier mark.
Drew Morano won the 400m dash. Brian Friese finished 10th in the 800m "B" section, one of the fastest heats of the event.
CSU will return to action next week, splitting the team between the Colorado Invitational in Boulder and the Sun Angel Classic hosted by the Arizona State University.
