TRACK AND FIELD: The Aggies performed well in their season opener at the Idaho State Bengal Shoot Out Friday in Pocatello. USU recorded eight men's top-three finishes and four women's top-three finishes for a total of 12 Aggie top-three finishes, of which five were first-place titles.
First-place finishers include senior Ashlee Cannon who won the 60m hurdles clocking in at 8.96, senior Dylan Nielson who won the 60m hurdles (8.15), junior Clint Silcock who won the high jump clearing 6-09.00 (2.06), sophomore Daniel Cruz won the weight throw with a distance of 57-03.50 (17.46m) setting a new personal best and junior Josef Canavan who won the shot put with a distance of 55-09.00 (16.99m), which was a new career best for the junior.
Tabbing top-three finishes for the women were freshman Bailee Whitworth finishing third in the 200m (25.25), freshman Bri Campbell finishing second in the high jump by a judges decision (1.73m, 5-08.00), and sophomore Spela Hus who took second in the shot put with a distance of 13.79m (45-03.00).
Among the top finishers for the men include sophomore Jeff Alley who placed second in the 60m (6.94) and third in the 200m (21.94). Freshman Spencer Hall took third in the same event (52-05.50, 15.99m) and was second in the weight throw (50-08.75, 15.46m).
Also doing well on the women's side was freshman Hollie Bosworth in the 400m as she was the Aggies top finisher in the event tabbing 10th (1:00.16).
Fellow freshmen McKayla Williams (1:01.48) took 15th in the event and Mercedes Blackwood (1:01.77) finished 19th.
Withworth also tabbed a sixth-place finish in the 60m (7.89). In the 200m, senior Jen Day placed fourth at 25.37, in fifth was Cannon (25.48), and sixth was freshman Aubrie Haymore (25.51).
Performing well in the field events for the women were freshmen Lauren Gwilliam and sophomore Madison Jensen as both tied for seventh place (5-04.25, 1.63m) in the high jump.
The only Aggie to compete in the women's pole vault was senior Kirstin Flesher who took ninth clearing 11-00.25 (3.36m). Freshman Shalyse Olsen was also the only Aggie to compete in the triple jump and she placed sixth at 33-10.25 (10.32m).
In the long jump, sophomore Camielle Fehlberg (4.45m), freshman Kelsey Keller (4.33m) and sophomore Heidi Saville (4.22m) finished 19th through 21st, respectively.
Junior Shannon Prince took fourth in the shot put (44-03.25, 13.49m) following Hus' second place finish in the event. Hus also took 15th in the weight throw (44-00.72, 14.04m).
Doing well for the men was sophomore Jon Goble (7.16) who took fifth in the 60m. Sophomore Mercer Owen took 16th in the 400m finishing at 51.96, and freshman Levi Williams (52.91m) took 24th in the event.
In the mile, junior Chio Lopez took 12th clocking in at 4:34.58. In the 800m junior Todd Griffith (2:01.20) finished 10th and junior Nick Bolinder (2:02.65) finished close behind in 11th. Sophomore John Johnson tabbed fourth place in the pole vault clearing 15-00.25 (4.58m).
GYMNASTICS: For its second meet in three days, Utah State gymnastics will compete in the New Hampshire Invitational on Sunday, Jan. 17 at Durham, N.H., hosted by New Hampshire. USU will join host New Hampshire in the quad meet along with Ball State and Yale.
The Aggies are coming off a 192.275-187.275 loss at Central Michigan in USU's season-opener Friday night at Mount Pleasant, Mich.
"We're looking at Sunday as a quick way to get over that first meet performance and some of the disappointment that went with not performing as well as we would have liked," USU head coach Jeff Richards said. "It will be a great way to hopefully redeem ourselves and adjust from those first meet jitters and be able to perform at the level that we know we're capable of."
The Aggies posted a 48.000 on vault, a 47.950 on bars, 45.550 on beam and 45.775 on floor for a final score of 187.275 Friday night. Junior Jackie Dillon was USU's top individual finisher, placing second on bars with a 9.675. Freshman Amelia Montoya was the top Aggie all-arounder, logging a 37.925 in her USU debut.
New Hampshire is ranked No. 30 in the national rankings with a 1-0 record. Behind a pair of first-place performances by junior Chelsea Steinberg opened the 2010 season with a 189.725-188.925 victory at EAGL foe Rutgers last Saturday afternoon. Steinberg tied for first on vault (9.80), won the balance beam with a 9.725 and finished second on bars with a mark of 9.575.
Ball State, who is ranked 33rd, brings an 0-1 mark into Sunday's quad meet after losing their season opener against Western Michigan, 198.200-187.425. Ball State had three medalists, as sophomore Brittney Emmons and freshman Nicole Allen tied for the vault title with 9.70's, while junior Katelyn Busacker shared the bars medalist honors with WMU's Meghan Donovan, posting 9.70 each, and Emmons tied WMU's Kristine Garbarino for the floor top score at 9.775.
Sunday will be the opening action of 2010 for Yale. The Bulldogs return seven gymnasts from last season's 4-17 squad that finished fourth at the Ivy Classic and seventh at the ECAC Championships.
The Aggies are 2-0 all-time vs. New Hampshire, meeting the Wildcats both times in Logan, last doing so in 2008 in a tri-meet win BYU, who won the meet with a 193.725, while USU was second with a 192.425 and UNH was third with a 190.900. The only other meeting was in 1990 in a dual with the Aggies collecting a 188.800-186.500 win over the Wildcats.
Sunday is the first-ever meeting between USU and both Ball State and Yale.
Utah State sophomore Erica Huelsmann, Yale freshman Lindsay Andsager are all natives of Naperville, Ill., but Huelsmann went to Naperville Central HS and competed at the Illinois Gymnastics Institute while Piotrowski went to North HS and competed for Phenom Gymnastics and Andsager went to Neuqua Valley HS and competed for Aerial Gymnastics Club. Ball State sophomore Nichole Sleeper is from nearby Downers Grove, Ill., and competed with Huelsmann at Illinois Gymnastics Institute. However, Hueslmann is out for the season with an injury, but she still travels with the team.