Complete 2021 WAC Women's Outdoor Track & Field Championship Results + Schedule
EDINBURG, Texas - Senior Yemisi Oroyinyin put forth the best shot put throw ever recorded at the UTRGV Soccer and Track & Field Complex en route to an individual title on day two of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Women's Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
Oroyinyin's toss was one of two podium finishes for the Aggies on day two. NM State sits in second place with 61.5 teams points, trailing GCU who has amassed 105.5 team points through the first two days of action.
IN THE LANES
• The final event of day two was the 3,000-meter steeplechase, and it produced the Aggies second and final podium finish of the day. Corinne Hanson took advantage of a miscue by one of her counterparts on the final lap to move into third place. Hanson's third-place finish in the event came in a time of 10:34.68, giving the Aggies six team points.
• Mia Regan (11:27.95) handed NM State two more team points with her seventh-place finish in the event.
• All of the other action on the track featured preliminary heats ahead of Saturday's finals. Thanks to a strong showing in the 100-meter hurdles heats, NM State runners will comprise half of the eight-woman final after Aliyah Logan (13.99 seconds), Asjah Wallace (14.17 seconds), Valissa Brown (14.02 seconds) and Israel Swanson (14.60 seconds) placed second, third, fourth and seventh respectively at the end of the heats.
• In the 400-meter dash prelims, Madelin Whelpley generated the second-best time of the 17 competitors to move on to to Saturday's finals. Whelpley was clocked in a time of 56.23 seconds in her one lap around the track.
• Of the two Aggie competitors in the 100-meter dash heats, only one - Brianna Gayla - moved on to Saturday's finals. Gayle conjured up the seventh-best time of the heats, getting clocked in a time of 12.11 seconds to punch her ticket to Saturday's finals.
• Asjah Wallace came out on a mission in her heat of the 200-meter dash. Wallace breezed past the competition in 23.94 seconds to advance to Saturday's eight-woman final. Gayle (24.71 seconds) came up just short of moving on to the finals, finishing in ninth place following the conclusion of the heats.
• The duo of Terice Steen and Israel Swanson - NM State's only two competitors in the 400-meter hurdles heats - both advanced to Saturday's finals. Steen cooked the competition across all heats, getting clocked in a time of 1:00.91 to lead all performers. Swanson's time of 1:04.43 was the fourth-best of the 12 competitors.
• NM State put just one competitor in the 800-meter run heats - Sheyenne Drake - but she came through to move on to the finals. Drake's seventh-best time of the heats was 2:16.21, good enough to move on to Saturday's finals.
FIELD EVENTS
• Oroyinyin's toss was one of three point-producing throws for the Aggies in the shot put. Rebecca Green put forth a toss of 13.74 meters to finish in fifth place for four team points. Sam Ponds rounded out the Aggie trio of point scorers in the event, generating an eighth-place finish with a throw of 12.90 meters to gain an additional point.
• Two of the three Aggies competing in the long jump wound up coming up with points, too. Dascha Robinson's leap of 5.68 meters was good for fifth place and in a tie for seventh place Valissa Brown produced a jump of 5.49 meters to gain another 1.5 points.
COMING UP NEXT
• It'll be go big or don't for the Aggies Saturday for the final day of the 2021 WAC Women's Outdoor Track & Field Championships. The action in the Lone Star State begins at 11:00 a.m. MT in the high jump and continues throughout the day. All field events will be live streamed on the WAC's Facebook page while the track events will be shown on ESPN+.
2021 WAC Women's Outdoor Track & Field Championship Leaderboard (after day two)
1. Grand Canyon | 105.5
2. NM State | 61.5
3. UTRGV | 51
4. Utah Valley | 42
5. California Baptist | 24
6. Tarleton | 15
7. Seattle U | 13
++NM State++
