May 15, 2015
Results SAN DIEGO, Calif. -- The Nevada track & field team saw a full day of competition on Friday as the team continued its run at the 2015 Mountain West Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
Nevada collected five points on day three of the championships and sits in eighth place in the team standings with 11 points heading into the final day of competition. New Mexico is at the top of the leaderboard with 57 points.
Kicking things off on the track for the Wolf Pack on Friday was the 3000m steeplechase, which featured four Nevada runners. Sophomore
Erika Root scored for the first time in her career after clocking in with a PR time of 10:45.50 and placing eighth in the finals. Root earned one point towards Nevada's team score. Her time in the event ranks sixth all-time in Nevada outdoor program history.
A majority of the track events on Friday, however, were run as qualifying races for Saturday's finals. Nevada had five competitors advance to their respective event finals on Saturday, and one advancing in multiple events. Junior
Caitlin Devitt-Payne did what she needed to do in order to advance in the 1500m run, qualifying with the eighth-best time in the field at 4:35.16.
Freshman
Katherine Surin won her heat outright in the 400m dash by making a push in the final stretch, clocking in at 55.39 seconds to move onto Saturday's finals. Surin also squeaked into tomorrow's finals in the 200m dash with a prelim time of 24.53 seconds. Sophomore
Fiyin Olusola earned the ninth and final qualifying spot in the 100m hurdles with a time of 14.00 seconds.
Rookie sprinter
Makeya White ran a PR of 11.86 in the preliminaries of the 100m dash to advance as well, the 10th-best time in program history. Another freshman runner,
Alexandra Tierney, held her own on the track in the 400m hurdles with a time of 1:02.54 to grab the final qualifying spot in the event.
Junior
Emily Myers, the program's record holder in the 10,000m run, earned one point in the event after running the enduring race in 35:32.76 and finishing in the eighth spot.
In Friday's field events, redshirt freshman
Tara Park started the morning off by collecting a huge PR in the hammer throw. Park finished 11th in the event, but managed a mark of 165' (50.30m), just barely missing a spot on the all-time outdoor list. Park also competed in the discus event on Friday, and moved up on the all-time outdoor list with a toss of 151'5" (46.16m), good for ninth in program history.
The team's perennial pole vaulter, junior
Alison Powers, scored three points for the Wolf Pack in her event, clearing a height of 12'11.75" (3.96m) to place in sixth.
Nevada concludes the Mountain West Outdoor Championships all day Saturday with both track and field events scheduled to take place. The final day will get started with the javelin beginning at 10 a.m. Fans can watch the action on Saturday by visiting www.livestream.com/mwn.
