Nick Ross, Lawi Lalang, Jordan Young and Alyssa Hasslen won individual titles at the 2014 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships this weekend.
Senior Alyssa Hasslen earned a first-place finish in the women’s shot put competition with a season-best toss of 56-4 (17.17m). That toss is tied for No. 5 in the country this year.
“My goal was to throw 17 meters and clinch that spot for the NCAA Indoor Championships. I did that, and I felt really good,” Hasslen said in a press release. “It was awesome; it was my fourth time here and [Saturday] was the first time I got a first-place trophy.”
In the men’s 5K, senior Lawi Lalang claimed his third overall MPSF Championship. He won in record fashion, clocking a time of 13:41.58, a meet record. Lalang’s time is No. 4 in the country this year; he qualifies for the NCAA Indoor Championships in the mile, 3K and 5K.
“I feel confident in all three races [mile, 3K, 5K] actually,” Lalang said in a press release. “It’s up to me and the coaches to decide if I should do just one of them, two of them or three of them. So, we’ll just have to sit down and decide that one.”
Senior Nick Ross won the men’s high jump competition with a clearance of 7-3 (2.21m).
Freshman Jordan Young won the Championship in the men’s weight throw with a toss of 69-3.25 (21.11m).
“I had an amazing warm-up throw, I really connected with the ball and I saw what I had in me,” Young said in a press release. “So now, going into the NCAA Championships, I have some confidence. I’m coming off a back injury, so to have a huge throw like that, it really boosts my confidence and gets me excited for what’s to come.”
Overall, the women’s team finished in third place while the men’s team took fifth place in Seattle.
“Overall, I thought we had a very good competition,” head coach Fred Harvey said in a press release. “Like I told the team, it is always going to be a work-in-progress. I can find things that we absolutely need to get better at and there’s things we did a really good job on over the last two days.”
Up next for the Wildcats is the NCAA championships starting on March 14.
—Follow Zoe Wolkowitz @zowolko
