LAS VEGAS – The Nevada track and field team won today's Mountain West Challenge, hosted by UNLV. The Wolf Pack scored 187 points, while the Aztecs of San Diego State, who won last year's outdoor conference championships, and the UNLV Rebels who took second in the conference last season, tied with 181.
"We came here with to try and win this meet, and the team performed fabulously," said head coach Shantel Twiggs. "We had some all-time performances, some season bests and some personal records but there's more to be had this season."
This marked the third running of the Mountain West Challenge, and was the first time the Wolf Pack came away with the victory. The meet used standard NCAA point scoring, with only the top two finishers from each school scoring.
With just the javelin left to be played out, the Pack trailed in a packed three-team field. UNLV and SDSU were tied with 172 points, while Nevada held steady with 171. Sophomore Alex Bohlman and freshman Anna Marie Sommerfeld stepped up to seal the victory for the Wolf Pack, finishing first and second respectively to earn 16 points. Bohlman's throw of 149' 9.75" (45.66 meters) finished just ahead of Sommerfeld's personal record throw of 135' 11.50" (41.44 m).
In the 400m, the Pack earned seven points and saw freshman Emily Costello move from sixth to fifth all-time at Nevada with a time of 55.40. The time was good for sixth in the event, and sophomore Lauren Green earned three points, coming in 10th place thanks to a 58.26 second finish.
The Wolf Pack picked up fifteen points in the 800m, led by junior Karoline Sauer's personal record time of 2:11.96 to top the event. Sophomore Eliza McCall took third with a time of 2:13.52.
In addition to the 16 points from the javelin, Nevada picked up 16 points from the 3,000m race. Freshman Alexis Melendrez won the event handily with a time of 10:28.25. Finishing in second was junior Carli Corpus with a time of 10:34.79.
The Pack picked up nine points in the 100m, led my senior Makeya White's fifth-place finish with a season-high time of 12.09 seconds. Coming in sixth with her first personal record of the day was sophomore Gifty Nkansah with a time of 12.21 seconds. Another nine points came from the 100m hurdles, where sophomore Agnese Mulatero took sixth with a personal record time of 14.04 seconds. Sommerfeld took seventh with another personal record, finishing in 14.71 seconds.
The Fraser twins collected 13 points for the Pack in the triple jump. Freshman Gabrielle Fraser took second overall with a leap of 38' 3" (11.66 m). Grabby Fraser took third with a personal record jump of 37' (11.28 m).
Freshman Nicola Ader, the reigning Mountain West Indoor high jump champion, tied a personal record height of 5' 11.25" (1.81 m) to win the event. Junior Delaney Gosse took fourth with a mark of 5' 5.75" (1.67 m). The duo earned 14 points for the Pack's team total.
Ader wasn't done yet, she would also finish atop the long jump leaderboard with a jump of 19' 1.50" (5.83 m). Also scoring in the event was Sommerfeld with a mark of 16' 4.50" (4.99 m).
Nevada had representatives in the top three of the 1,500m, with junior Cora Gallop and sophomore Stefanie Ortega taking second and third, respectively. Gallop's 4:49.01 finish and Ortega's 4:49.77 run tacked on 13 points for the Pack.
In the 400m hurdles, Nevada earned 10 points with third and sixth place finishes from Mulatero and freshman Shelby Garrison, respectively. Both Mulatero and Garrison earned personal records, with Mulatero finishing in 1:04.03 and Garrison running a time of 1:07.25.
Eight more points came from the discus, where freshman Keena Murphy took fourth with a throw of 130' 11.75" (39.92 m). Fellow freshman Kylee Stevens-Sam took sixth with a personal record mark of 21' 4" (36.98 m). Stevens-Sam would earn another personal record in the hammer throw with a mark of 133' 2.75" (40.61 m) to finish sixth. Freshman Grace Wills took fourth in the event with a mark of 148' 6" (45.26 m).
Wills would set a personal record in the shot put, finishing fourth with a toss of 42' 10.25" (13.06 m). Sophomore Tina Lao took sixth with a mark of 37' 6.75" (11.45 m).
Three more points came from White and Nkansah in the 200m, with Nkansah's time of 25.52 setting her second personal record of the day and taking sixth. White's 25.57 second time was good for seventh.
The Pack's 4x100m squad of White, Costello, Sauer and Nkansah earned six points thanks to a fourth-place finish and a time of 47.43 seconds.
The pole vaulting duo of junior Gaby Palmer and senior Emily Etter earned 11 points for Nevada. Palmer took fourth with a max height of 12' 8.75" (3.88 m), and Etter took 12' 1" (3.68 m).
Next up for the Wolf Pack is a trip to Stanford, Calif. for the Cardinal Invitational from April 19-20. The Pack distance runners were in Stanford last weekend for the Stanford Invitational, with sophomore Morgin Coonfield and senior Lindsey Sickler each setting personal records in the 10,000m and 3,000m steeplechase, respectively.
