It was a script that even ESPN Classic would want to air again. Two of the best collegiate high jumpers, from rival schools (Red vs Blue), having to go to a jump off to decide the winner at a conference championship meet. They have been down a similar path before as both are juniors and have beaten each other on this stage in previous championship events.
Both cleared 6-0.75 on their first attempts. The bar moved to 6-2 which would be lifetime bests for both jumpers. Each jumper had the bar cleared and knocked it off on the way down. That led to a sudden victory jump off. Each jumper getting a fourth attempt at 6-2. If both made the bar would move up, if both missed then the bar would lower two centimeters. If one made and the other didn't then a victor would be declared. After misses by both athlees at 6-2 (1.88cm) and 6-1.25 (1.86cm) a clearance was made at 1.84 by the first jumper. The second jumper would miss and the great rivals would embrace with a well deserved round of applause from everyone in attendance. Because it was the final field event before the 4x400 meter relays the meet came to a stop until the conclusion of this epic duel per conference championship rules (The 4x400 meter relays must be the final event and can not begin until all other events have ended).
Unfortunately (for us), the second jumper was Langley and the first her longtime rival from BYU (Ada Robinson). That ending described most of our close calls. Sophomore Amanda Mergaert finished second in the mile for the second straight year. A .27 second loss (4:51.73-4:52.00) after running an intelligent race was not the ending she deserved. That time was six seconds faster than she ran a year ago at this meet. In the shot put we went 4-7-8. Junior Candus Aeillo was probably our biggest surprise of the meet throwing a three foot PR to finish fourth. Newcomer Alanna Nulph also had a huge PR for seventh. Sophomore Nikkie Rudder had a tough day (by her standards) but was still able to finish eighth.
We also got a runner up finish from Lucy Yates who held on by less than half a second (2:09.39-2:09.86) for second.
Senior Alyssa Abbott entered the 3K as the defending champion. Through 2K she was in terrific position for a repeat, however it was not to be as she finished fifth after a great close by a pair of New Mexico teammates. Abbott is less than 15 weeks removed from surgery on her knee that kept her out of cross country. She ran a lifetime 3K PR two weeks ago, but the UNM girls on their home track had a great day.
Sophomore Angie Kaplar was sixth in the 60 meter hurdles (8.64) in Saturday's final. The 4x400 meter relay closed out the meet with a solid fourth place showing. Alyssa Johnson, Lucy Yates, Lauryn McKay, and Ashley Mosley ran 3:45.41 which is either the second or third fastest time in school history.
All in all it was a solid meet. We had a few nice surprises and no one really fell apart. We had eight all conference performances in five events (including four runner up finishes) and 19 of the 24 athletes we took to the meet figured in our 71.5 team points which gave us fifth place. We scored 8.5 less points a year ago for fourth. So it was a tough year in the league, especially among the top tier.
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