Matt Weir / The Collegian
The Bulldogs head to Ruston, La., for the WAC track and field championships
With the first day of the Western Athletic Conference Track & Field Championships taking place today in Ruston, La., the ‘Dogs have one last shot to post qualifying times and marks for the NCAA West Regional later this month.
The first two days of the WAC Championship will include the men’s and women’s decathlon and heptathlon followed a 26-even Friday session.
Fourteen of Fresno State competitors from both the men’s and women’s squads currently hold top-three times in the conference, highlighted by the Bulldog’s distance crew. Frank Sanders and Roxanne Sellick each hold the top times in the men’s and women’s 1,500 meter race, while Sanders is looking to defend his 2009 conference title in the event.
Utah State poses the biggest threat to Fresno State in the men’s events after winning the conference title last season, well ahead of the fourth place Bulldogs. With the Aggies owning seven of the top times and marks of the 21 men’s events, Utah State looks poised to push the ‘Dogs over the course of the next three days.
On the women’s side, Fresno State faces its stiffest competition in Louisiana Tech on its home track. Louisiana Tech is looking to claim its seventh straight team title on the back of its seven top WAC times. Last season, Fresno State finished third in the WAC, behind Louisiana Tech and Nevada.
An event to watch on the men’s side for the ‘Dogs includes the 400-meter hurdles, in which Val Pierre Dai’Re is ranked top-10 in the NCAA Regional and is just four one-hundredths of a second off Utah State’s Nick Karren’s time of 50.70.
Fresno State’s Rosario Sanchez in the women’s shot put has a great chance to return home with a WAC title. Her season-best throw of 50-feet-8 ¾-inches is less than a foot off the conference best and more than two feet better than the third best.
Latrisha Jordan, the 2009 WAC champion in the 400, sits in the No. 4 slot on the season’s top-times list, but is less than one second off the top time held by Hawaii’s Thalia Amanakis.
Likewise, Tim Greene, a 2009 NCAA Regional meet qualifier, has yet to improve off last season’s hammer throw of more than 203 feet, and has some work to do to catch up to the WAC hammer leader in Idaho’s James Rogan. Last month, Rogan launched a throw of more than 221 feet, easily the best in the conference.