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Rams Headed to MWC Outdoor Track & Field Championships
Conference tournament to take place this week in Las Vegas.
May 11, 2004
Complete Release in PDF Format
FORT COLLINS, Colo. - Colorado State heads to Las Vegas for the annual Mountain West Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championship hosted by UNLV. Last season, the Ram men placed second with 230 points, while the women were third with 101 points. Honored: Senior Christine Ahn was named the final 2004 Mountain West Outdoor Women's Track & Field Athlete of the Week after breaking the school record and winning the pole vault at the Air Force Twilight. Ahn cleared 12-9.5, breaking her previous record of 12-8 from earlier this season. Ahn has broken the school record four times in her career and owns both the indoor and outdoor pole vault records at CSU. Defense Of Their Crown: Several Rams will try to defend their titles from last season's Mountain West Outdoor Championship. Junior Mike Nicks and junior Jacob Benson won the steeplechase and high jump last season, respectively, and senior John Woods won both the 100 and 200 meters in 2002. Junior Loree Smith redshirted the 2003 season, but won both the discus and hammer in 2002. The 2003 season was the first time in six seasons a Ram had not won the women's discus at the conference championship. The Rams will also look to reclaim the men's 1500 meters title, as a Ram won the title every year from 1996 to 2002 before BYU stole the title in 2003. Kings & Queens Of The Mountain: Several Rams enter the Mountain West Conference Championship with the top mark in the league this season. John Woods has the fastest time in the 100 meters (10.39) and the 200 meters (20.97). The men's 4x100 team sits atop the rankings (40.79) and freshman Magnus Lohse has the best shot put (60-7.25). On the women's side, senior Keela Niemeyer ranks first in the shot put (51-2.75), Loree Smith is first in both the discus (187-4) and hammer (220-0) and junior Cristina Gourdin has the best point total in the heptathlon (5136). Pair of Competitors: Both Christine Ahn and freshman Nelson Palacios were at the Air Force Academy on Friday evening for the Ris Westen/Air Force Twilight Invitational. Ahn broke her own record in the pole vault, winning the meet after jumping 12-9.5. Palacios placed second in the 800 meters after clocking in at 1:55.14 -- a career-best time for the freshman. Another One Bites The Dust: The fourth school record of the season fell as freshman Janay DeLoach jumped 20-1.75 in the long jump at the Cardinal Invitational to break the previous record of 20-0 held by Kelly Delph from 1990. Christine Ahn broke her own school record in the pole vault for the second time this season after clearing 12-9.5 at the Air Force Twilight. She breaks her record of 12-8 from the Jack Christiansen Invitational. Loree Smith broke the school and Mountain West record in the hammer for the two straight weeks after winning the Texas Relays with a throw of 220-0. She breaks the old record of 193-10 held by Shelly Borrman from 1998. Magnus Lohse broke the Colorado State record in the shot put at the Rob Upton Invitational. In his first outdoor collegiate event, Lohse threw 60-7.25 to break the old record of 58-8.5 held by Tony Sotelo in 1999 and current senior Jeremy Graff from 2002. All-Conference: Twelve student-athletes will be trying to repeat as 2003 Mountain West All-Conference selections this weekend in Las Vegas. Nationally Ranked: The women's team is ranked 20th in this week's Trackwire 25 poll. The Rams have 13 points and are one of three teams from the Mountain West Conference ranked. San Diego State is ranked 17th with 15 points and BYU is tied for 18th with 14 points. The highest the Rams have been ranked this season is 15th.
Athletes of the Week: Junior Loree Smith has been honored by the
Mountain West Conference office three times this season as the Women's
Track & Field Athlete of the Week. Smith earned the honors on March 31,
April 7 and April 22 after breaking at least one record in each of the
three weeks. Senior Christine Ahn was named the final women's outdoor
athlete of the week (May 11) after breaking the school record and
clearing 12-9.5 at the Air Force Twilight.
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