Relay Teams Win Gold, Wesley Claims Second Straight 400m Title

Wednesday, May 11

Greeley, Colo.

All Day

University of Northern Colorado

Big Sky Outdoor Championships

Photo by: Kobee Stalder

5/14/2016 8:15:00 PM | Men's Track & Field, Women's Track & Field, Track & Field

Both the women's 4x100 and men's 4x400 relay teams took home Big Sky gold for UNC, along with sophomore 400m runner, Alex Wesley, who claimed his second straight outdoor championship win in the event.

By: UNCBears.com

FINAL RESULTS

GREELEY, Colo. – It was an exciting finish for Northern Colorado in the final day of the 2016 Big Sky Outdoor Championship. Both the men's 4x400 relay team and the women's 4x100 squad pulled off incredible come from behind victories to earn the conference crowns.

In total, three out of the four UNC relay teams earned podium finishes on the day.

The Bears also had individual podium appearances from Alex Wesley, Francisco Au and Alivia Ayres-Perry.

Ayres-Perry got the running events started for Northern Colorado with a third place finish in the 100m dash. She finished the finals with a season-best 11.71 seconds, earning the bronze medal. Teammate Moriah Zachary came in fourth in the event with a finish 11.74 seconds.

Zachary also finished fourth in the 200m dash, just missing out on third place by fourth tenths of a second. She crossed the finish line in 23.90 seconds.

Zachary and Ayres-Perry, along with Brianna Pardner and Samara Lishchynsky were a force to be reckoned with in the 4x100 meter relay. The crew held off Weber State and Portland State down the back stretches to win the event with a time of 45.78 seconds. They were the only team to finish the relay with a sub-46 second time.

In the men's 400m finals, Alex Wesley put on a spectacle for the crowd at Nottingham Field. The sophomore was neck-and-neck with Montana's Sterling Reneau before emptying the tank in the final 100m to pull away and win the title, breaking the tape in 46.28 seconds.

The time was not only a new stadium record, but broke the UNC program record by half a second set back in 2006 by Mike Busch. With the win, Wesley is now the back-to-back 400m outdoor champion.

Fellow 400m runner, Jordan Medina earned a fourth place finish in the event, coming across in 47.74 seconds.

Both Wesley and Medina with the help of Chris Sterling and Anthony Powell pulled off a near improbable win in the men's 4x400 meter relay.

The Bears only recorded the fifth fastest time in the Big Sky this season in the race, but thanks to a strong push from Sterling, who moved the team from fifth to second, in the second leg of the race UNC was able to come away with more gold after a time of 3:11.48.

Wesley earned his third medal of the day, while Powell picked up his second medal in the 4x100 meter relay. The pair, along with Alex Mead and Isaiah Brown again came from the middle of the pack to get on to the podium on an all out effort from Mead, finishing third overall with a time of 40.89 seconds.

In the men's field events, triple jumper, Francisco Au captured his second straight third place conference finish. AU, who only competed in a handful of competitions this season, was able to mark a 14.62m ( 47-11.75) jump, easily clearing his season best of 14.37m.

In the team standings, the women finished in 9th place overall with 55 points and the men placed 10th with 47 points.

Northern Arizona swept the team titles, winning on both the men's and the women's side.

The track and field team will now await to see how many athletes they'll be sending to the NCAA West Regional in Lawrence, Kansas. Last season the Bears took five to the meet, the most since making the move to Division I.

Other Notables:
- Claire Harris finished sixth overall in the 100m hurdles with a time of 14.19 seconds, just off her personal record of 14.17 seconds.
- Jayson Dupre qualified for the men's triple jump finals and finished seventh overall. His finals mark was 14.26m (46-09.50)
- Scott Dickson was able to work a sixth place finish in the 400m hurdles. He dashed and jumped to a time of 54.44 seconds.
- The women's 4x400 team also placed sixth overall in the relay. The squad of Alisha Allen, Cammy Sargent, Mackenzie Howie and Samara Lishchynsky clocked in at 3:49.92.