SLIDESHOW: Wildcat Indoor Open
OGDEN -- Weber State University hosted its annual Wildcat Indoor Track and Field Open Saturday, with the Wildcats logging several first-place finishes while competing without several athletes who were resting before next week's showdown.
Saturday's meet was the last of the regular season and served as a tune-up for Wildcats looking forward to next week's Big Sky Conference indoor championships in Bozeman, Mont.
TRACK AND FIELD
"We're not running everyone today," Women's coach Jim Blaisdell said. "We've got a few nicks and bruises and we're just trying to get everyone ready for next week."
Thirty-eight WSU athletes will be making the trip to Montana State next week for the conference championships.
Coach Dan Walker's men had solid all-around performances without adding any new Big Sky qualifiers.
First-place finishers included Jonevan DiSimone in the 55-meter hurdles (7.52), shaving off three-hundredths from last week's performance and holding the fifth fastest time in school history, and Matt White in the 55 meters (6.95).
In field events, sophomore Chris Struckman finished first in the long jump with his leap of 21-10, then placed second in the high jump clearing 6-6.
"A couple hurdlers got a little faster this week and everyone's ready to go," Walker said. "We're gonna try and focus on scoring as many points as we can next week because when you get to the championship, everybody is set to give it their best and see how many points we get."
On the women's side, Kristen Billings nabbed second place in the 55 meters (7.19) and while Michaela North finished first in her heat in the 55-meter hurdles (8.03), she failed to place in the top three in the finals.
North rounded out a busy day, placing first in the long jump, hitting a distance of 17-05.25.
Standout sprinter Ally Dean was the top Wildcat placer in the 55-meter hurdles (8.33), finishing third overall.
In the field, Alex Filiaga qualified for conference in the shot put with a distance of 43-1.75, and freshman Amylyn Schmidt cleared a personal best 5-1.25 to take third in the high jump.
"This team's a little better than last year's and we've got some good young kids," Walker said. "Next week will be what we've been waiting for."
Softball
* WILDCATS DROP PAIR: At Las Cruces, N.M., softball made its official return to Weber State on Friday as the Wildcats opened up the 2010 season at the Troy Cox Classic, hosted by New Mexico State University. The Wildcats suffered an 11-6 loss to Cleveland State in their first game of the day, and closed the day with a 13-3 loss to the host-Aggies.
The Wildcats ran into some trouble just to get to the tournament after suffering a series of travel issues. First, the team's flight from Salt Lake City was delayed after a flight was forced to make an emergency landing at the airport after receiving a bomb threat. Then they suffered a delay due to mechanical issues and when they finally arrived at their connecting airport in Denver, they had missed the final flight to New Mexico for the day.
Tournament officials made scheduling adjustments to give Weber State time to arrive and saving the 'Cats from a forfeit in their first game since 1983.
In the opener, Britinie Hardine singled to left with two outs in the top of the first for the first hit of the new era of Weber State softball.
In the bottom of the inning, Cleveland State rudely met the Wildcats with a seven-run first inning, scoring on four hits. The Wildcats hurt themselves with a pair of errors in the inning.
Against New Mexico State, the Wildcats got all three of their runs in the opening inning to tie the game after the Aggies scored three in the top of the frame.
The Wildcats played St. Mary's and nationally-ranked Tennessee on Saturday, then will close out its inaugural weekend of action today with a single game against Bradley.
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