Utah State Track & Field Competing In WAC Championships This Weekend

Utah State’s men’s track & field team will open defense of its conference title while the Aggie women's team will look to improve off last year's fifth-place finish when the Western Athletic Conference Track & Field Championships begin Wednesday, May 14. The championships, which run through Saturday, May 17, are hosted by Boise State at Bronco Stadium at Boise, Idaho.

The men's decathlon and the women's heptathlon are Wednesday and Thursday, starting at 1 p.m. both days with Friday's action commencing with the field events at 12:30 p.m., opening with the men's hammer, while the running events get going at 2 p.m., led by the women's 3,000m steeplechase. Saturday's action starts at 12:30 p.m. with the field events, beginning with the women's hammer while the women's 4x100m relay opens the running events at 5 p.m.

 

Live results for the 2008 WAC Championships are available through www.utahstateaggies.com as well as www.wacsports.com and clicking on the "live results" link once it is available.

 

The USU men will be trying to become the first repeat WAC men's champions under the current conference alignment and the first overall since BYU in 1998 and 1999. In the history of the WAC, there have been eight repeat champions, with some repeating more than two years, highlighted by BYU's nine in a row from 1985-93.

 

The five WAC men's teams are ranked as high as No. 27 and as low as No. 154 in the USTFCCCA Outdoor Men's Track & Field Poll. Idaho is ranked 27th, while host Boise State is 40th, Fresno State is No. 113, Louisiana Tech is 136th and USU is No. 154.

 

The eight women's squads are ranked as high as 58th and as low as No. 160 in the women's poll. Hawai'i is No. 58, Boise State is 63rd, Idaho is No. 88, Fresno State is 95th, Nevada is 101st, defending champion Louisiana Tech is 117th, Utah State is No. 149 and New Mexico State is 160th.

 

In addition to being the defending men's WAC champions, USU returns four conference champions, highlighted by two-time defending 3,000m steeplechase conference champion senior Stacie Lifferth-Dorius. The Aggies tote the previous two decathlon champions in last year's winner junior John Strang and the 2006 champion in senior Logan Moore. Sophomore Casey Parker also returns to defend his WAC high jump title.

 

Utah State's men enter the conference championships with 14 top three marks on the WAC performance list, including five top spots. Senior Dasheek Akwenye has the fastest 400m time in the conference at 46.83. Junior Seth Wold has the fastest time in both the 5,000m (14:31.55) and the 10,000m (30:20.65) while sophomore Steve Strickland has the top time in the 3,000m steeplechase (8:57.03). Junior John Strang is tied for the top high jump height at 6-10.75.

 

On the women's side, the Aggies have 10 top three performances, including two number one spots. Lifferth-Dorius enters the meet with the fastest time (10:21.11) in the steeple while sophomore Ashlee Cannon has the conference's top time in the 100m hurdles (13.79).

 

USU has eight NCAA regional qualifying marks on the men's side and six on the women's side. In addition to Akwenye, Strang and Strickland, freshman Silas Pimentel and junior Blake Hadfield have two apiece, with Pimentel owning marks in the 100m (10.48) and 200m (21.25) while Hadfield holds marks in the long jump (24-4.25) and triple jump (49-5). The other NCAA regional qualifying mark is held by freshman Joe Canavan in the shot put (55-7.75).

 

Lifferth-Dorius and Cannon are joined on the NCAA regional qualifying mark list by senior Katie Thatcher in the 400m hurdles (1:00.11), sophomore Erin Stratton in the 3,000m steeplechase (10:38.11), freshman pole vaulter Sonia Grabowska (13-1.50) and junior Krista Larson in the hammer throw (187-7).

 

For more information on next week's WAC Championships, including ticket information, go to the Web site.

 

Those athletes that qualify will be competing in the NCAA Regional Championships, hosted by Cal State Northridge at Northridge, Calif., May 30-31. The NCAA National Championships are June 11-14 at Des Moines, Iowa.