The Weber State University track and field team capped off its fourth week of the outdoor season with the annual Weber State Outdoor Open on Saturday.

Before the Wildcats competed in their home event, the team traveled to Salt Lake City on Friday to participate in the Utah Spring Classic. There, the Wildcats came away with several top-three finishes, including freshman Emily Morgan (100 meter sprint) and CJ Deters (shot put), who finished first place in both their events.

Weber State also had two more athletes qualify for the Big Sky Conference championships as junior Tony Osheku finished in third place in the 100m with a personal-best time of 10.69 and senior Kiersten Watkins placed third in the 400 meter hurdles with a time of 1:01.63—the 10th fastest time in school history.

“This is the busiest week of the year for us,” WSU track and field coach Dan Walker said. “We have three different meets that we have athletes participating in throughout the week. I was pleased with the performances that we had across the board. Our 4×100 team improved by nearly a second, and we had some good marks at our home meet on Saturday.”

Returning home on Saturday, the Wildcats put up solid performances throughout the day, but sophomores Anthony Gregory and Ryan Carlson were the only two to win their events as Gregory posted a season-best mark of six feet nine inches in the high jump while Carlson won the 110 meter hurdles with a time of 15.12.

Even though there were not many individual first place finishes for the Wildcats, that didn’t dampen the spirits of the athletes.

“I think I did really good because I had a (personal record) at the 400. I went  48.30,” Osheku said. “My personal best before was 52.30 or something close to that, but I ran 48.30 today, so it feels pretty good.”

Osheku’s 48.30 mark in the 400m gave him a fifth place finish at the event, finishing just behind teammate Dustin Durfee, who recorded a time of 47.97.

One day after finishing first at the Utah Spring Classic, Morgan followed up her winning performance with a second place finish in the 100m with a time of 12.03. She was followed closely behind by teammate Chandler Weitzell, who finished third with a time of 12.68.

The event also saw a past member of the Wildcats return as former WSU distance runner John Coyle competed in the men’s 3,000 meter steeplechase event. Coyle finished in fourth place with a time of 9:33.12, finishing ahead of Weber State’s runner Tyler Robinson, who finished in sixth place with a time of 9:40.62.

After the meet, Osheku said that it was nice to have the chance to play at home since the majority of the team’s schedule has them on the road.

“It’s super good. Almost all of our meets are away, and we’re usually traveling every week, but having to run at home is so huge for us,” he said.

The Wildcats return to action Thursday when they travel to Walnut, California to participate in the Mt. San Antonio College Relays. Although the outdoor season is still young, the team feels confident in its chances at the Big Sky Conference championships this year.

“Feeling pretty, pretty good. Everyone is working hard, and we’re all running fast times, and we have what it takes to upset everyone at the conference championships,” Osheku said. “We all know that if we can do our jobs on the track, we can be really huge at conference.”