Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
Tom Benich Classic
Track & field recap: Rams shine at Benich Classic
4/5/2010 12:00:00 AM | Outdoor Track & Field
April 5, 2010
By Zak Gilbert
Athletic Media Relations
GREELEY, Colo. - Buoyed by several top finishes in its field events, the Colorado State track & field team had a solid weekend at the annual Tom Benich Classic, hosted by the University of Northern Colorado.
All told, the Rams racked up first-place finishes in eight of the 38 events at the Benich, one of the largest meets in the region. The two-day meet, held Friday and Saturday, took place in windy conditions and did not have team scoring.
"I would've liked to have seen a few more first-place finishes," Head Coach Brian Bedard said. "It was only our second meet and we need to keep that in mind. In the technical events, I'm seeing some good things, but we're not putting it all together just yet.
"We can iron that stuff out if we keep coaching well, and keep competing well. I need to see more fight in our athletes. That's not a character trait of our team and we have to get better there. It's not acceptable to me."
CSU actually hosted the first events of the meet, the hammer throw Friday afternoon at Jack Christiansen Track, because UNC didn't have a safe facility for the competition. And Rams senior Meagan Berg capitalized on the home-field opportunity, winning the women's event with a throw of 184 feet, 10 inches.
Day 2 of the meet, 45 minutes away in Greeley, saw seven more Rams capture first in various events. The complete list:
- Meagan Berg, women's hammer throw, 184-10
- Kristen Kugler, women's javelin, 124-02
- Jennifer Ugochukwu, women's shot put, 45-10
- Tyson Williams, men's shot put, 54-07.25
- Kirk Cooper, men's pole vault, 16-00.75
- Cate Brus, women's high jump, 5-05.00
- Nicole Peters, 3,000-meter steeplechase, 11 minutes, 22.06 seconds
- Kelby Dias, 110-meter hurdles, 14.79 seconds
In addition to winning the shot put, Ugochukwu was the top collegiate finisher in the women's discus. The senior from Irving, Texas, hit an outdoor personal best with a throw of 152-07.
"Jennifer is starting to figure it out," Bedard said. "Her consistency is very good right now. She's been impressive in the discus considering she wasn't a great discus thrower in high school."
Wind hampered sprinters from every team Saturday. UNC's facility wasn't ideal to adjusting to windy conditions.
"They don't have the ability to move the finish line at UNC," Bedard said. "Sprinters were running into big head wins. That's not a lot of fun if you're a sprinter. They were probably running into a 15-20 mile-per-hour headwind at times. At that point, as a coach, you just want to see your athletes' best effort and you kind of throw out the time."
The Rams finished 1-2 in the men's shot put, after Williams (54-07.25) and Ian Lettow (52-06.75) turned in stellar performances.
Later in the day, CSU turned in another outstanding effort in the women's high jump, where Brus and Sonni Russell tied for first by clearing 5-05.00.
"I thought our jumps crew did pretty well," Bedard said. "We got Caston Mabin going again in the high jump. Our triple jumpers competed pretty well, too."
Olivia Downing led all current college athletes with a 37-11.50 effort in the women's triple jump. And John O'Neill finished with the top collegiate time in the 5,000-meter run, 15:21.63.
Drew Loftin, who finished as the national runner-up under Bedard in the 2003 hammer throw, competed as an unattached individual and won Friday's meet-opening competition with a 231-02 throw in the hammer.
Janay DeLoach, also a former CSU All-American, won the women's long jump as an unattached athlete, with a leap of 20-02.25.
Kugler, meanwhile, won the javelin Saturday on one day's rest, after finishing 10th in the women's heptathlon with 4,924 points at the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays Wednesday and Thursday.
The Rams continue their outdoor season Saturday with a pair of meets on the docket, the Colorado Invitational in Boulder, Colo., and the Sun Angel Invite in Tempe, Ariz.
