Colorado State track & field athletes earned a total of 25 All-Mountain West honors, following second-place team finishes on each of the men’s and women’s sides at the 2017 Mountain West Outdoor Track & Field Championships this past weekend.
10 CSU athletes were honored on each side, with the women earning 13 honors and the men tallying 12 honors.
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Each member of the Rams’ men’s and women’s 4×100-meters earned All-Mountain West honors. Jalen Hunter, Ayo Sanusi, Ronald Sayles and Hunter Price earned honors after running a season-best time of 41.14 and placing second. Leah Fair, Lorenda Holston, Abby Simpson and Emily Romo ran a program record time of 44.79, en route to their conference honors in the 4×100-meter relay.
Price earned All-Mountain West honors in three events (4×100-meter relay, high jump, long jump), which is the second most of any Mountain West athlete. Kelcey Bedard (discus, hammer), Janelle Lincks (3,000-meter steeplechase, 5,000 meters) and Romo (4×100-meter relay, 400 meters) each earned two All-Mountain West honors apiece.
Linnea Jonsson was the individual champion for women’s hammer and was followed closely by Bedard, who placed second. Each received All-Mountain West honors for their efforts. Bedard also earned conference honors with a runner-up finish in the discus.
On the men’s side, Jerrell Mock took the individual title for 10,000 meters while Grant Fischer placed second, as each earned conference honors. Each of Mock (31:03.59) and Fischer (31:10.08) finished the race under the previous facility record. McKenna Spillar earned conference honors in the women’s 10,000 meters, placing third.
In the high hump, CSU’s Trenton Wallace (6-11.75/2.13m) won the event in a jump off and Price placed third after clearing 6-10.25 (2.09m). Uche Obinnah finished in fourth and Collin Scheer finished fifth as CSU became the first team in MW Championships history to place four athletes in the top five finishers in the event. Price added his third All-Mountain West honor in the long jump, winning the event with a mark of 25-6.25 (7.78m).
Aaliyah Pete and Mostafa Hassan each captured individual titles and All-Mountain West honors in the women’s and men’s shot put, respectively. Pete won the women’s shot put with a MW Championships and facility-record mark of 55-8.5 (16.98m), making her the first athlete in MW history – in women’s or men’s track & field – to win four outdoor shot put titles. She also became the first to win a combined (outdoor and indoor) seven shot put titles. Hassan broke the men’s MW Championships record with a mark of 66-4.5 (20.23m).
Jefferson Abbey was the first CSU athlete since 2000 to win the men’s 5,000 meters, while Janelle Lincks earned conference honors with a third-place finish in the women’s 5,000. Lincks was also All-Mountain West in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
Romo won the women’s 400 meters title with program-record 53.55. Macy Kreutz earned All-Mountain West honors in the 800 meters, running the third-best time in CSU history (2:07.20) for a second-place finish.
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The Colorado State track & field team is off from competition this week, but will return to action next week at the NCAA West Preliminaries in Austin, Texas. Qualifying athletes will compete at the NCAA West Preliminary from May 25 through May 27.
Following the successful performance this weekend, the Colorado State men’s track & field team moved up two spots to No. 13 in the most recent U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches’ Association (USTFCCCA) NCAA Division I Men’s Outdoor Track & Field National Team Rankings, which were released Monday.
The CSU men received 127.72 points in the USTFCCCA’s week seven computer rankings, up from 122.02 points last week. CSU is the highest ranked team outside of the Power Five conferences on either of the women’s or men’s sides, and is the only Mountain West team to be ranked in the top 25 in the men’s rankings. CSU moved past Baylor, Ole Miss and USC this week.
Collegian sports director Justin Michael can be reached by email at jmichael@collegian.com or Twitter @JustinTMichael.
