Amber Henry set a Stewart Stadium record in the 1,500-meter run on Saturday during the Wildcat Outdoor Classic. Henry won the event with a time of 4:22.96, five seconds faster than the previous stadium record.
Henry wasn’t the only Wildcat who turned in a good performance at the meet. There were a total of 22 conference-qualifying times between the men’s and women’s teams over the weekend.
On Friday, the teams competed in the Utah Spring Classic at the University of Utah, and then they competed on Saturday at the Wildcat Outdoor Classic at Stewart Stadium.
The WSU men’s team head coach, Dan Walker, said he was excited to see the team pick up 10 more qualifying spots.
“This late in the conference season, that is outstanding,” Walker said. “We’ve continued to improve all season. Everybody came ready to compete this weekend, and the competition was very good.”
Dustin Durfee took first place in the 400-meter dash with a time of 48.06 seconds. Two other Wildcats qualified for the Big Sky meet in the 400-meter dash. Isaac Akers and Josh Peterson also qualified for the conference meet.
WSU also had the two top collegiate finishers in the 1,500-meter run. Mike Hardy was the top collegiate runner with a time of 3:52.12, and Trevor Ricks finished just behind him with a time of 3:52.22.
Ethan Anderson won the discus throw with a career-best throw of 159-03. Anderson’s teammate Dustin Martin, who has already qualified for the conference meet, took second in the event with a throw of 156-08. Derek Harrebomee won the hammer throw for WSU as well.
At Friday’s meet, WSU saw Cylor Morgan qualify in the 100-meter dash, and Stetson Smith qualified for the conference meet in the 800-meter dash.
The women’s team had 12 athletes qualify for the conference meet over the weekend. Regina Okoye won the 100-meter hurdles with a career-best time of 14.86 seconds. On Friday, Okoye also qualified in the long jump.
Alice Keller won the 3,000-meter steeplechase on Saturday with a time of 11:31.12. It was her first time running the steeplechase.
The women’s 4-by-400-meter relay team of Katherine Wishmeyer, Elisa Isakson, Amanda Alston and Jerica Wilson won the event with a time of 3:54.82 to qualify for the conference meet.
Katherine Wishmeyer qualified in the 400-meter dash with a time of 56.25 seconds.
Women’s head coach Jim Blaisdell said he was pleased with the way the team performed, especially the younger members.
“This was a great weekend,” Blaisdell said. “I thought we did really well at the University of Utah, and this home meet is always fun. After getting 12 qualifiers, I feel a lot better about where we are now than we were a week ago.”
Other qualifiers on the women’s team were Katy Hufford and Kami Shupe in the long jump, Ashley Kealamakia and Jamie Stokes in the 800-meter dash, Lauren Navidomskis in the high jump, and Britlie Silvester in the hammer throw.
Now the team will head to California to take part in the Long Beach Invitational. Some of the team will take part in the Mark Faldmo Invitational on Saturday at Utah State University.
