Four Track & Field Athletes Sitting in Top-10 at WAC Championships - University of Nevada Official Athletic Site

Four Track & Field Athletes Sitting in Top-10 at WAC Championships
Four of the University of Nevada's five competing athletes are holding top-10 spots after the first day of the multi-event heptathlon at the 2009 WAC Outdoor Championships being hosted at the Ralph Maughan Track on the campus of Utah State Wednesday.

LOGAN, UTAH - Four of the University of Nevada’s five competing athletes are holding top-10 spots after the first day of the multi-event heptathlon at the 2009 WAC Outdoor Championships being hosted at the Ralph Maughan Track on the campus of Utah State Wednesday. The heptathlon serves as the first event at the championship meet, with the full body of the events not beginning until Friday.

After the completion of four of the heptathlon's seven events, Nevada athletes are in fourth, eighth, ninth, 10th and 13th. The Wolf Pack is currently led by freshman April Pate (Rialto, Calif.) in fourth with 2,787 points. Pate, primarily a sprinter/hurdler, led the 14-athlete field after the first event, running a 14.66 in the 100-meter hurdles. After holding strong with a 4’11.75” (644 pts.) mark in the high jump and a 28’5.5” (443 pts.) throw in the shot put, Pate ran the field’s fourth-best time of 25.82 (813 pts.) in the 200-meters to finish the day.

Hawai`i is currently leading the heptahtlon, holding the top two spots. Annett Wichmann is in the lead with 3,233 pts. followed by fellow Wahine Emily Sheppard with 3,073 pts. Idaho’s Darcy Collins rounds out the top three with 3,025 pts.

Pack redshirt-freshman Aubrie Neil (Reno, Nev.) is currently leading a trio of Nevada athletes in eighth place with 2,505 pts. In ninth, junior Jennifer Boswell (Sisters, Ore.) scored 2,464 pts. while RS-freshman Alexa Anderson (Spanish Springs, Nev.) is in 10th with 2,440. Rounding out the Wolf Pack contingent is RS-freshman Andrea Keirstead (Carson City, Nev.) in 13th with 2,291 pts.

This year is the first time Utah State has hosted the WAC Outdoor Championships, and Nevada is looking to win its first WAC Outdoor Title since joining the conference in 2001. Nevada won the Big West Outdoor Title in its final season in that conference in 2000 and has won two WAC Indoor Titles coming in 2003 and 2004. Last year when the meet was held at Boise State, Nevada finished fifth and the Wolf Pack has never finished better than second at the WAC outdoor meet.

The heptathlon will conclude on Thursday beginning at 1:30 p.m. MT with its final three events, the long jump, javelin and 800-meters. Live stats for the entire meet can be viewed at the WAC’s website: http://wac.org/otf/2009/index.htm.