Spaic captures third javelin title; Bulldog women secure fifth at MW Outdoor Championships

Thursday, May 13

Clovis, Calif.

Fresno State

Mountain West Championships

Spaic captures third javelin title; Bulldog women secure fifth at MW Outdoor Championships

5/16/2021 12:58:00 AM | Track & Field

Women's Results Men's Results Team Scores

By: Josh Mitchell / Assistant Director of Strategic Communications

CLOVIS, Calif. - Fresno State's Vanja Spaic highlighted the final day from the Bulldogs at the 2021 Mountain West Outdoor Track & Field Championships, earning the team's second gold of the weekend. For the senior, she became just the third athlete in MW history to win three javelin titles in a career.

The native of Bosnia ended her MW championship career breaking her own facility record at Veterans Memorial Stadium with a season-best throw of 52.31m/171-1 on her second attempt of the competition. It was the third-best throw in meet history. Spaic finished the competition with four throws over 50 meters, including two over 52 meters, the first two of the season beyond that mark. Her winning throw was more than nine meters beyond second place.

Just as events started to move to the track, the Bulldogs' triple jumpers finished up which saw senior Breanna Covington win the first MW medal of her career as she placed second with a mark of 12.77m/41-10.75. It was her second-best jump of the season. The Fresno native became the Bulldogs' highest-ever finisher in the event at the MW Championships.

Also collecting points for the 'Dogs in the triple jump was Haley Abirached and Tijana Antic who tied for fourth (moved to fifth following tiebreaker) and seventh, respectively. Abirached landed her best mark of the day, 12.53m/41.15 on her first attempt, breaking her outdoor personal record by more than a foot. The jump ranks fourth all-time at Fresno State. Antic finished with a mark of 12.24m/40-2. By going 2-5-7, Fresno State earned 14 points in the event, its most ever in the triple jump at the MW championship meet. In total, the Bulldogs scored 17 points in the horizontal jumps, its most at the MW meet.

In the sprints, Ceonna Pipion lowered her personal best by clocking a 54.55 to finish fourth in the 400-meter final. The freshman returned to the track in the 4x400 relay, running second, helping the 'Dogs to a fourth-place finish with a season-best time of 3:46.83.

The relay provided five crucial points for the 'Dogs as it kept them in the top half of the team standings. The Bulldogs finished fifth as a team with 56 points, one point ahead of Nevada. It was Fresno State's highest finish since finishing fifth in 2017. It was only the third top-half finish for the Bulldogs since joining the Mountain West for the 2013 season.

In the men's finals, Raphael Adedigba became the Bulldogs' best finisher in the in the 100 meters since their first season in the Mountain West, placing fifth. The senior recorded a 10.76 which saw a stumble out of the blocks before a huge push over the final 50 meters to get himself back into the mix.

In the 800 meters, Nathan Burd finished seventh, Fresno State's highest finish in the event since 2016. Leading though the opening half of the race, the junior found himself fading back with 300 meters to go. Burd, though, fought back over the final straightaway to pull back into seventh, finishing at 1:53.34.

Quotes
Jason Drake, Director of Track & Field and Cross Country
On the year…
"I'm just thrilled we got to the point we were able to have a relatively normal season. In January I never imagined we would get this far. The athletes have been so great in this time of uncertainty and I think they appreciate the opportunities to compete more than ever."

On the goal going into the meet…
"My goal for our team going into the conference championship is to beat the form chart. My challenge to the team was for everyone to place higher than they were ranked going in. They accepted the challenge and three-fourths of our athletes did just that."

On Vanja Spaic…
"Vanja continued her fantastic career by winning her third conference title. It's never easy to win one title, but three is something special. She had to wait awhile for this one, but it was worth it."

On the triple jump…
"The TJ crew was on today. Bre continued to compete well, and the big jump by Haley today was a massive PR and a tie for 4th. Tijana was solid. Another great effort by this group.

On Raphael Adedigba…
"Raph was awesome in the 100 today. He stumbled early in the race out of the blocks, but made up plenty of ground to get fifth in the 100."

On Nathan Burd…
"Nate fighting down the final 100 of the 800 to score a couple of points was special. He just missed scoring in 2019 so he was determined to make it happen today."

On the women's 4x400 relay…
"The women's 4x4 had to run well to secure our fifth-place team finish and they delivered. Nakyia (Bukner) had a fantastic anchor to hold off the competition. They stepped up to the challenge to deliver our team a solid finish."

On the meet as a whole…
"Overall, I was excited with our finish and it is a nice place to come. We still have some season left with the handful we have moving onto the first rounds here in the next couple of weeks."

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