Complete WAC Outdoor Track & Field Championship Meet Results
EDINBURG, Texas - Freshman distance specialist Emily Stetesman and senior Andi Harrelson generated runner-up finishes in their respective events to help the NM State women's track & field team sit in second place at the conclusion of the opening day of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Women's Outdoor Track & Field Championships Thursday evening.
Competing at the UTRGV Soccer and Track & Field Complex, the Aggies competed in a trio of events during day one of the three-day league championship event. NM State is just five points behind GCU heading into day two of the conference championship meet.
Nine of the Aggies' 33 team points were generated in the morning portion of field action. Emily Hernandez put forth a toss of 52.35 meters on her final attempt of the hammer throw to finish fourth in the event. That finish helped the Aggies get their hands on five team points.
Down just one spot in fifth place, senior Yemisi Oroyinyin conjured up a throw of 52.61 meters on her fourth try of the morning to latch on to a fifth-place finish in the event. With that, the Aggies amassed nine team points headed into the afternoon action.
A trio of NM State performers, led by Harrelson, helped the Aggies rack up 13 more points once the javelin throw was in the books. Harrelson, a product of Ruidoso, N.M., put forth a toss of 42.37 meters on her final round to lock up a runner-up finish in the javelin event.
Her second-best performance of the season was complimented by the efforts of Bailey Beene and Mariah Humphrey who finished in sixth and seventh places respectively to hand the Aggies five additional points. Been's 40.76-meter effort on her first throw of the day proved to be her best toss of the day while Humphrey offered a 38.94-meter toss on throw three to give the Aggies another pair of points.
In the meet's only championship track event of the evening, Stutesman shined. The freshman from Glendale, Ariz., gave her team eight additional points by way of a runner-up finish in the 10,000-meter run. Stutesman was clocked in a time of 36:53.26 while her teammate Maggie Gibbs did what she could to offer more tallies to the Aggies' total.
Gibbs, who was timed at 37:39.97 during her traversal of the course, secured three more points for NM State with her sixth-place finish.
Following the conclusion of the opening day of competition, Grand Canyon owns a five-point lead over NM State for first place at the league's championship meet. The Lopes amassed 38 points compared to the Aggies' 33. Sitting in third place is Utah Valley with 15 points while the host Vaqueros have 11 points to their credit. California Baptist (sixth, seven points) and Tarleton (seventh, three points) round out the competing teams at the end of the first day of competition in the Lone Star State.
Hoping to move up the leaderboard, the Aggies return to the UTRGV Soccer and Track & Field Complex Friday for day two of the 2021 WAC Outdoor Women's Track & Field Championships. Friday's action begins 8:30 a.m. MT, but the Aggies' first entrant comes in the shot put finals at 1:30 p.m. MT and continues well into the night with the heats of the sprinting events as well as the steeplechase finals at 6:30 p.m. MT. ESPN+ and the ESPN app will carry all of the action and live results will be available at this link.
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