Rams give a ‘Classic’ effort

Competing against, arguably, their toughest competition of the

indoor season Saturday in Colorado Springs at the Air Force

Classic, the CSU men’s and women’s track and field teams remained

undefeated winning with 147 and 140 points, respectively.

The Air Force men (139 points) finished a close second while the

Arizona women (135) finished second on the women’s side.

Leading the way for CSU’s men were distance runners Mike Nicks

and Austin Vigil who tallied season-best marks in their respective

events, the 800-meter run and the 3,000.

“Mike in that 800 was pretty impressive,” said senior Bill

Michel who ran an indoor personal best of 4:17.55 while finishing

fourth in the mile. “Austin ran real well in the 3,000 for not

tapering and training right through it.”

Nicks exploded to win the 800 with a time of 1:52.9, while

senior Brian Kelly followed in second with a 1:54.13.

“I wanted to run a little faster, but was happy with how it came

out,” said Nicks of his performance. “I knew it would probably be

between Brian and me and it pretty much was.”

Also making noise of the men were sprinters John Woods and

Brandon Kent. Woods, a senior, won the 60 in 6.76 seconds and the

200 in 21.29, while the junior Kent took the 400 posting a 49.09

mark.

In the field it was Jacob Benson who continued to perform well,

finishing second in the triple jump with a distance of 48 feet, 1

1/4 inches. Meanwhile, freshman Magnus Lohse (coming off a

school-record performance in the shot put) showed no signs of

slowing down, heaving a 60-7 3/4 toss to win the shot. Junior Adam

Trainor and sophomore Nate Heyrman finished one-two in the weight

throw, with Trainor recording a season-best 61-10 1/2.

The women’s winning effort was similarly diverse with points

coming from all facets. Freshman Megan Fox had her best meet as a

Ram, winning the 200 and 400 with personal-best times of 25.57 and

57.16, respectively. Junior Katrice Thomas finished a close second

in the 400 at 57.45. Another freshman with a big day was Janay

DeLoach who leaped her way to victory in the long jump with a

distance of 19-8 – one inch shy of a school record.

Back on the track Nicole Feest, Danielle Korb and Colleen Blair

finished Nos. 3-5 in the 3,000 with Feest recording a 10:28.54.

“Nicole did really well, she really stood up,” said Blair who

ran 10:39.16 in the event. “Overall it was a pretty good race. The

(Colorado) girls sat for a while and then dropped us, but we were

able to hang on for quite a while.”

The teams’ attention now turns to Lincoln, Neb., where the Rams

expect to face their toughest competition to date at the Sevigne

Husker Invitational.

“Everything is going to plan,” Nicks said. “It will be a big

meet for us.”