Falcons Travel South For MWC Championships
5/12/2003 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
May 12, 2003
The Falcons travel to Albuquerque this week to compete in the Mountain West Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships at the University of New Mexico's track.
Falcon coach Ralph Lindeman's pre-meet expectations are high for the women's team and hopeful the men can finish in third behind Brigham Young and Colorado State.
"I am really excited about our women's chances of breaking into the top five in the conference, which will be a first for us," Lindeman said.
His optimism is based on the fact that he has two women who lead the conference in their respective events-LaTravia Robinson in the triple jump (40-feet) and Jocelyn Dooley in the javelin (155-feet, 10-inches).
The men have several athletes capable of winning events, but Lindeman said that even with the very best performance out of his men, they may do no better than third place.
"Our men's team is ranked 19th in the country in the track coaches' power rankings," said Lindeman. "However, BYU is ranked fifth and CSU 12th in the same standings and I think that is a pretty good indication on how the conference is going to finish on the men's side."
Individual title hopes rest with Sean Temple in the 110-meter hurdles. Temple, who won the hurdle title during the indoor championships this year and the outdoor title in last year's championship has a conference-leading time of 14.15.
Javelin thrower Tim Fritz comes into the competition with the best throw in the league to date at 210-feet. Lindeman also expects 5,000-meter runner Chris Acs, 10,000-meter runner Ben Payne and Tom Clark in the 400-meter hurdles to challenge for conference titles in their respective events.
A surprise entry for the Falcons is Paul Gensic in the pole vault. Gensic, who suffered a broken collar bone, fractured hip and pelvis and a lacerated spleen in a vaulting accident in January, is returning to action to defend his outdoor title.
"Paul's return to the championships this week is nothing short of a miracle given the injuries he sustained when he landed in the vault pit at Reno in January," said Lindeman. "He is just one fierce competitor who did not want to miss this championship meet."
