Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
WAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships (Day 4)
`Dogs Bring Home Four WAC Titles
5/15/2010 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
May 15, 2010
FRESNO, Calif. - Fresno State picked up four individual WAC titles Saturday behind strong showings by Frank Sanders, Paul Zwama and Latrisha Jordan.
Fresno State's men's team finished in fourth with 113 points. Utah State won the WAC team title, followed by Boise State in second. The Bulldog women took sixth as a team with 69 points. Louisiana Tech won the title with Idaho in second. Boise State and Utah State were third and fourth, respectively.
"I thought we competed very very well," said head coach Scott Winsor. "The student-athletes really put it out there today and for the most part, gave everything they had. We're just outnumbered by other schools."
Jordan led the women's team, winning the 400 hurdles for the second year in a row.
On the men's side, Sanders, a senior, won the 1,500- and the 800-meter races becoming the first Bulldog to win two individual events at a singular WAC Championship since Chris Berrian won the 100 and 200 in 2005.
In one of the meet's final races, Zwama scored a first-place finish in the 5,000. It is the first time since that a Bulldog won the 5,000.
Sanders did everything he could for the team Saturday. The senior won two events, the 1,500- and the 800-meter races.
"It's a great double and it's a hard double," said Winsor of Sanders' two victories. "To win both is a great accomplishment."
Early in the day, Sanders won the 1,500 for the third straight year. He cruised to the title with a time of 3:49.61, beating the No. 2 finisher by more than 1.5 seconds.
"It feels good to be a three-time WAC champ in the 1500," said Sanders. "I'm reall`y happy to just help the team out."
Teammate Eric Battles added to the Bulldog's strong showing in the 1,500, finishing third with a career-best time of 3:51.27.
Later in the day, Sanders returned to the track for the 800. He scored his second WAC victory on the day after completing the two-lap race in 1:50.42.
"Frank scared us in the 800," said Winsor. "He got down by a good 20 meters and pulled it out in the end, but he definitely had us worried."
"When I started the first lap I was thinking, `These guys are going to kill me in the 800,'" said Sanders. "Then all of a sudden on the back stretch, everyone came closer and I wanted to see what I had left. It was the most painful 250 meters at the end. At the end of the race is where you are going to see if you have something left in the tank or if you are done. My adrenaline kept coming up more and more as I got closer to the finish."
Cody Alves finished in the Top 5 of the 800 as well, placing fifth with a personal-best 1:52.27.
Zwama, a junior, picked up his first WAC title of his career in the 5,000. He timed a 14:26.15 to win the event by a full second over the silver medalist.
 Paul Zwama won the WAC title in the 5,000 Saturday.  | |
"Paul ran a very smart race," said Winsor. "He looked comfortable and relaxed. It became a two-man race and he stayed right behind the other guy until the final lap and then just took off. He knew he had something left and took it in the end."
Val-Pierre Dai'Re had a career-day Saturday in a bittersweet 400 hurdles race. Dai'Re broke the Fresno State record for the event with a time of 50.37, finishing in second place by .02 seconds. Kendrick Young also scored team points in the event with a sixth-place finish at 52.33.
"Val has had a great track and field career at Fresno State," said Winsor. "He hit hurdle No. 8 and that probably cost him the race. Those two guys are that close. Val had a very good weekend. He ran very hard and left everything he had out there."
The 4x400 relay team of Jordan Walker, Myster Holliman, Young and Dai'Re finished in second with a season-best 3:12.62. Charles Williams, Cameron Parker, Quenton O'Neal and Dai'Re combined to take third in the 4x100 with a time of 41.05.
Walker, a freshman, also nabbed a fourth-place finish in the individual 400, clocking a 48.98.
David Deal grabbed his second bronze medal of the meet. Deal, a junior, cleared a career-best 15-8.5 (4.79m) in the pole vault to take third. On Thursday, Deal placed third in the decathlon and set a then-best of 15-7 (4.75m) in the pole vault.
"David had a heck of a weekend," said Winsor. "He came back from a very grueling decathlon to PR again. You can't ask for much more than that."
Parker sprinted his way to top finishes in both his individual events. The freshman took fourth in the 100 and sixth in the 200.
Jordan Smith scored team points in the triple jump. Smith finished in fifth, leaping to a career-best 46-5.5 (14.16m).
All-American Latrisha Jordan won the 400 hurdles in back-to-back WAC Outdoor Championships. The sophomore scored a season-best 59.20 to win the event.
"She ran a season-best, but it's not where she needs to be," said Winsor. "But she won the hurdles, which we needed desperately."
 Latrisha Jordan won the WAC title in the 400 hurdles for the second-straight year. | |
"Blue is going to be a fantastic thrower," said Winsor. "She has some things she needs to work on, but she had a great performance today. She is a tremendous competitor, the kind of student and athlete that we are trying to attract at Fresno State."
Roxanne Sellick scored points for the Bulldogs in two events. Sellick took second in the 1,500, getting edged by less than a half second. She returned to the track near the end of the day to pick up points for the team in the 5,000, where she finished seventh.
"Roxanne competed very hard today," said Winsor. "She left everything out there she had and that's all we can ask for."
Marrijtje Molenhuis scored team points in the 1,500 alongside Sellick. Molenhuis ran a 4:45.04 to take eighth in the event.
The relay teams also contributed points to the women's score. The 4x400 relay team of Tiera Hilliard, Breeauna Thompson, Janev Morris and Jordan combined to score a season-best to take second. The four-some timed in at 3:42.43, three seconds better than their former best. Shanelle Stephens joined Thompson, Hilliard and Jordan in the 4x100 relay as the team took fourth with a season-best 46.53.
Thompson picked up points for the team in two other events - the 100 and the 200. Thompson ran career-best 24.00 in the 200 to take foruth and then an 11.93 in the 100 for seventh. Thompson set a career-best in the 100 on Friday with an 11.80.
Hilliard ran a 55.60 in the individual 400 to finish fourth.
The conference awards All-WAC honors to athletes finishing among the Top 6 in each individual event. First-team honors go to the first three finishers and second-team accolades are awarded to fourth through sixth place-finishers. In the relays, only the first place team wins first-team All-WAC honors, while the second and third place relay teams are second-team All-WAC honorees.
The Bulldogs will compete in the NCAA Regional May 28-29 in Austin, Texas. In order to qualify for the Regional, competitors must have one of the 48 best marks in the West Region according to the descending order list. Going in to the weekend, 11 Bulldogs had qualifying marks with conference championships.
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