The Boise State men's track team recorded the 10th best
finish at the NCAA West Regional Track and Field Championships this weekend in
Eugene. Coach Mike Maynard's Broncos scored 33 points to outpace Pac-10
foes California and Oregon State and finish in 10th place.
Boise State also avenged its loss at the Western Athletic Conference
Championships two weeks ago by finishing far higher than any other WAC
team--Utah State was next at #13. The Bronco women did not fare as well as
they did not score a point.
Superstar Ryan Grinnell led the way for the Bronco men, winning the triple
jump with a leap that was just .22 meters off the West Regional record.
Grinnell soared 53-feet, 9.75 inches to win the event by two feet over Jonathan Clark of UCLA (51-8.50). Arizona senior Luis Rivera-Morales placed third
(51-1) while Aven Wright of USC was fourth (50-10).
Grinnell also placed fourth in the high jump by clearing 6'11.75", with
USC junior Manjula Wijesekara winning the competition with an outstanding jump
of 7-4.50. Grinnell also placed 10th in the long jump (24-1.75). He
advances to the NCAA National Championships in two weeks in both the triple jump
and the high jump.
Fellow senior Simon Wardhaugh also brought home the gold in his
specialty--the hammer throw. Wardhaugh heaved the ball 216 feet, 10 inches
in topping UCLA senior Boldizsar Kocsor (213-5). Two Bronco freshmen
Trevor Kraychir and Alex Nelson were also entered but finished 25th and
26th respectively with throws of 186'1". The win represented a
long climb up the ladder of the west's best hammer throwers. Wardhaugh
just missed winning the event at the 2006 Regionals, finishing second to
teammate Mattias Jons, and was fourth both as a sophomore in 2007 and last year
as a junior. A Boise State hammer thrower winning the event is becoming a tradition. The
Broncos have won the past five WAC championships in the event (Jons, 2005-06,
Jarrod Stevens 2007 and Wardhaugh, 2008-09). Jons not only won the West in
'06 but also set the regional record of 68.58 meters that still stands.
In Friday's action, Pontus Thomee saved his best javelin throw for the
moment, sending the spear 239-feet, 3-inches downfield to surprise the field and
take second over favored throwers. Oregon junior Cyrus Hostetler nudged
Thomee by just one-tenth of a meter with a throw of 239-8, while senior Corey White of USC was third (237-7) and Oregon's Alex Wolff (233-5) took
fourth. Boise State's Eric Demers was 16th (199-1) and Scott Viafore was
21st (194-5).
Sasa Kampic was the youngest Bronco woman at the Regionals but did the
best. The freshman showed 'em how it's done in finishing 10th in the
javelin (145'2"), just missing points. Senior Kayleen McDowell
finished last in the 800-meter preliminaries with a time of 2:25.69.
Bronco sophomore Mele Vaisima was 18th in the hammer with a throw of 132-10
while Anise Bertleson finished 21st in the pole vault by clearing 12 feet and
Breanne Sande finished 24th in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (11:06.34 25).
Men - Team Rankings - 18 Events Scored
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1) Southern California 90
2) Oregon 80.75
3) Washington State 66
4) Arizona State 62
5) Stanford 52
6) UCLA 41.75
7) Arizona 39
8) Boise State 33
9) California 31
10) Washington 30
11) Brigham Young 28
12) Cal State-Northridge 26.75
13) Utah State 21
14) Northern Arizona 14
15) Davis 13
16) Cal State-Fullerton 12
17) Idaho 11
18) Weber State 10
19) Sacramento State 8
20) Fresno State 6
21) Irvine 5.75
22) Long Beach State 4
22) Santa Barbara 4
22) Southern Utah 4
25) Riverside 3
26) Portland 2
27) Idaho State 1