U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. - New Mexico sophomore Bridgid Isworth set the only Mountain West Conference record Friday during the second day of competition at the Indoor Track and Field Championships held at the Air Force Academy's Cadet Field House.
Isworth, from Melbourne Australia, vaulted 13-feet- 2 ½-inches to break the old mark of 12-feet 7 ¼-inches set last year by San Diego State's Shayla Balentine.
For the record, BYU holds the lead for the women's team title with 61.50 points followed by Colorado State (45), San Diego State (38), New Mexico (33), Utah (26.50), Wyoming (21), Air Force (8) and UNLV (1).
Defending men's champion Colorado State has 83 points to lead the six-team pack. Host Air Force is second with 51 followed by BYU (45), Wyoming (34), New Mexico (14) and Utah (4).
Friday's competition produced several noteworthy highlights:
For the second consecutive year BYU finished first, second and third in the women's 5,000-meter run (senior Lindsey Thomsen, 17:56.24; senior Katie Martin, 17:58.66; and sophomore Breanne Sandberg 18:03.86).
The winner in both the men's 5,000-meter run, Dylan Olchin (Colorado State, Jr., 15:09.21), and the women's 5,000-meter run, Lindsey Thomsen (BYU, Sr., 17:56.24), finished second in the 2002 Championships.
BYU senior Aron Szmuda (Levice, Slov. Republic) successfully defended his men's long jump title with a distance of 24' 5 ¾".
Colorado State senior Drew Loftin (Woodland Park, Colo.) successfully defended his men's 35# weight throw title with a distance of 67' 9".
Colorado State freshman Tim Merz (Lakewood, Colo.) won the men's high jump with a height of 6' 8 ¾". The same mark that won the event at the 2002 Championships.
Colorado State junior Loree Smith (Julesburg, Colo.) won the women's 20# weight throw with an NCAA automatic qualifying throw of 67' 5 ½". Smith finished second in last year's championships with a throw of 61" ¼".
New Mexico senior Keren Bentzur (Eshel Hanassi, Israel) captured her second title in two days at the 2003 Championships with a distance of 19' 1 ¼" in the women's long jump. On Thursday, she won the women's pentathlon with 3,845 points.
BYU captured the women's distance medley relay for the third time in four years (2000, 2002 and 2003). This year's team consisted of junior Micheala Mannova, freshman Mary Bennion, senior Nan Kennard and senior Jamie Cottle.
BYU captured the men's distance medley relay for the first time in four years. This year's team consisted of
junior Steve Barrus, sophomore Kansas Whitear, sophomore Bryan Lindsey and sophomore Nathan Robison.
The MWC Indoor Track & Field Championships conclude Saturday, March 1, following the men's mile relay at 3:45 p.m. MST and the announcement of the individual and team awards.
