Sign Up | Lost Password

Christensen: A Needed Drama

By Todd Christensen, The Mtn. Insider
February 28, 2012

Over the last six years in track meets that I have broadcast for the MountainWest Sports Network, there has always been the same conversation prior to the meets by other coaches.  They would laud their individual performers and talk about how if the breaks went their way they might have a shot at the title.  The former was positive but the latter was always whistling in the dark.  

BYU was so dominant in track and field that during the duration of my work they lost only one meet, men and women combined.  Most of those other meets were not close, with little or no drama at the conclusion of the meet.  

But with the Cougars out of the Conference, things were going to be different.  First, on the women’s side, it was highly competitive throughout with TCU emerging behind the speed and jumping ability of Chaniqua Corinealdi and Whitney Gibson.  There were other exceptional performances by the women, including Allison Reasor of San Diego State in the pentathlon and hurdles, Emily Blok of UNLV in the sprints and Josephine Moultrie of New Mexico in the distance events.  If this meet was any indication of the way the women will perform in the future, it’s going to be competitive and entertaining to watch.

On the men's side, Charles Silmon of TCU doubled up in the 60 and the 200.  Jim Walmsley of Air Force did likewise in the 3000 and the 5000.  The performer of the meet was Kurt Felix of Boise State, who not only won the heptathlon but came back to garner points in all three of the jumps.  And it was his Bronco teammates that led by 1.5 points heading into the 4x400 relay.  Just as importantly, the Orange and Blue had the top two finishers in the open 400 in Manoah Wesson and Karrie Butler as well as four of the top seven finishers in said event.  Certainly, they were primed to take the trophy.

But, Air Force had come with a rush down the stretch scoring highly in both the high jump and pole vault.  There was no logic to the Falcons winning this 4x400, but courage and focus won the day as they blistered the field with a 3:10 in the event triumphing over the Broncos by a mere 2.5 points, giving Ralph Lindeman and his charges a long overdue Conference title. What an exciting way to end this Conference battle, a portent of quality meets to come!
See all of Todd Christensen's blog entries HERE.