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Press releaseRUSTON, La. -- Utah State men's track and field team repeated as Western Athletic Conference champions, while the Aggie women finished fourth as the WAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships wrapped up Saturday at Louisiana Tech's Jim Mize Track and Field Complex in Ruston, La.
USU won its second-straight WAC outdoor title and won both the indoor and the outdoor WAC titles for the first time in the Aggies' six seasons in the league. Utah State becomes the first back-to-back WAC outdoor champions since BYU won the 1998 and 1999 titles.
This is Utah State's third WAC outdoor championship (2007, 2009 and 2010) and fifth WAC track & field title overall (2008 and 2010 indoor titles). Overall, USU has won 10 outdoor conference championships (three WAC, seven Big West). Utah State also pulled off the sweep
The Aggie women finished fourth for the third-straight season after finishing fifth in 2007 and third in 2006.
USU veteran head coach Gregg Gensel was named the WAC Men's Coach of the Year, his fourth WAC track and field honor and 25th overall of his career.
"We put ourselves in good position yesterday by getting people through to today's finals and everybody stepped up and contributed today," Gensel said. "I couldn't have asked them to do more. It was a true team effort as everyone had solid outings all day long. The depth of having people at every event won the track meet for us."
USU won three men's titles Saturday, including a 1-2 finish in the 100m dash by juniors Mike Pyrtle and Armahd Lewis.
"If you had told me that we were going to go 1-2 in the 100 meter dash at the WAC Championships, I would have thought you were crazy," Gensel said. "Mike and Armahd ran a fantastic race."
The Utah State men entered Saturday trailing Boise State by 15 points (75-60), but the Aggies overtook and pulled away from the Broncos as USU finished with 173 points and BSU ended with 141 points. Host Louisiana Tech was third with 128 points, followed by Fresno State in fourth with 113 points and Idaho in fifth with 92 points.
On the women's side, Louisiana Tech won its sixth-straight outdoor title, overtaking Idaho by collecting 194 points, while Idaho had 175.5. Boise State was in third with 93 points, followed by Utah State in fourth with 80 points. Hawai'i was fifth with 74.5 points, followed by Fresno State in sixth with 69 points, while Nevada and New Mexico State tied for seventh with 66 points each.
Saturday's action on the track started with the men's 4x100m relay as senior Nick Karren, junior Armahd Lewis, freshman Matt Maughan and junior Mike Pyrtle ran a school-record time of 40.05, bettering their own record of 40.38 they set on April 24 at the California meet. The Aggies finished second, behind Louisiana Tech's winning time of 39.89.
Pyrtle won the 100m dash title with a time of 10.51, while Lewis was second with a 10.53 clocking. Pyrtle becomes USU's second WAC 100m dash champion, joining DJ Smith in 2006 and the third 100m conference champion in USU history, joining Bode Osagiobare who won Big West titles in both 1992 and 1993. On Friday, Pyrtle had the fastest preliminary time with a 10.33, which is tied for the second-fastest time in school history, tying Osagiobare's time from 1993 and behind the school record time by Smith of 10.28 in 2007.
"Yesterday I felt real great with a 10.33," Pyrtle said. "Today I just wanted to get it done. The guys got out on me. I just wanted to win for my mom and I had to step up for my team and get it done. I just felt like I could've run faster."
Karren later won the 400m hurdles with a career-best and third-fastest time in school history with a 50.35. It is Karren's second WAC 400m hurdles outdoor championship, also winning it in 2007, and his fifth career WAC title, winning the indoor 60m hurdles crown in 2008 and the indoor 400m in both 2008 and 2009.
"It feels good. It's nice to win my last race at the WAC," said Karren, whose 50.35 edged out Val Pierre Dai'Re of Fresno State's time of 50.37. "We've done that twice this year. I told him we should run against each other every time because if we run like that and keep getting PR's we'll up our ranks in the nation. It's good because it's a rivalry."
Junior Joe Canavan became USU's first WAC outdoor shot put champion, winning the event with a toss of 18.37m (60-03.25). Canavan completed the sweep of the shot put in 2010, also winning the indoor title. Overall, Canavan is the sixth conference outdoor shot put champion in school history.
"It's good. I finished off the season with an indoor and outdoor title. Coming off my redshirt year last year due to injuries, I really feel vindicated to come back and prove myself that I still got what it takes," Canavan said, whose toss was just shy of his personal-best mark of 18.40 (60-4.50). " I was happy with it. I was just off my previous PR. We haven't peeked and still have regionals to go so I'm really happy with it."
In the first field event of the day, the men's pole vault, USU got 13 points with sophomore John Johnson placing second, clearing a season-best 4.79m (15-08.50). Johnson, third-place finisher David Deal of Fresno State and fourth-place finisher USU junior Max Hansen all cleared the same height, but finished in their respective places due to fewer misses. Hansen's height is also a season-best.
The senior duo of Nick Karren and Dylan Nielson were second and third, respectively in the 110m hurdles with times of 14.32 and 14.33, a new season-best for Nielson.
Junior Eric Larson and Hunter Nelson were second and fourth in the 1,500m with times of 3:51.07 and 3:52.27, respectively.
Other point scorers and all-WAC finishers were senior Jason Holt finishing fourth in the 800m with a 1:51.94 time, while junior Alex DuPlesis was sixth in the javelin with a toss of 56.82m (186-05).
The USU men's 4x400m relay team sealed the WAC championship by finishing fourth in the final event as Karren and Holt teamed with sophomore Jeff Alley and freshman Tyler Killpack to run a 3:17.41.
On the women's side, sophomore Kim Quinn was fourth in the 5,000m with a personal-best time of 17:27.29, the fifth-fastest time in school history.
Senior Elaine Connolly and sophomore Jessie Chugg were second and third, respectively, in the 800m, with times of 2:09.06 and 2:12.00. Senior Erin Stratton was third in the 1,500 with a time of 4:38.82, while junior Shannon Prince was fourth in the discus with a mark of 48.08m (157-09), and senior Jennifer Day was sixth in the 400m with a time of 56.21.
Both 4x100m and the 4x400m relay teams were fifth, as freshmen Mercedes Blackwood, Aubrie Haymore and Bailee Whitworth along with Day ran a season-best 46.61 time.
Haymore and Day were also on the 4x400m relay team, joining Chugg and Connolly, as the foursome ran a 3:45.88 time, also the fastest time of the season and missing the USU top 10 list by .64 second, as the No. 10 spot is 3:45.24.
Those athletes that qualify will be competing in the NCAA Championship West Region Preliminary Round, in Austin, Texas on May 28-29.
Utah State University
