SUU campus briefs

TRACK AND FIELD: The Thunderbirds wrapped up competition at the Texas Relays and BYU Invitational on Saturday with strong results in the men's 110-meter hurdles, with a season-best time from Kodai Kusano and a season-best mark in the discus by Carlos Valle. The SUU women also recorded season-best times in the 4x100-meter relay and a season-best mark in the women's triple jump.

Kusano highlighted the Thunderbird men's success in Texas, running to a season-best time of 14.72 in the men's 110-meter hurdles. The time was ahead of runners from Kansas, Syracuse, Arkansas, Oral Roberts and others. Valle's toss of 179 feet, 10.75 inches at BYU was more than 12 feet greater than his previous season-best and was also tops at the meet.

In other action in Provo, Jarred Finn raced to a first-place time of 49.91 in his heat of the men's 400-meter dash, with Kyle Kopp finishing just off the medal podium in the men's long jump with a fourth-place mark of 22 feet, 4.5 inches.

The women's 4x100-meter relay team, consisting of Shaye Maurer, Christina Day, Holly Ledbetter and Chelsey Allen ran to a season-best time of 48.31 in Texas, recording the second-best time in the Summit League this season. Another season-best was achieved in Provo as Kylie Murakami bounded 33 feet, 7.5 inches in the women's triple jump, marking the top distance for the Thunderbird women in that event this year.

The T-birds will be back in action next weekend when the team competes at the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational in Claremont, Calif.

SOFTBALL: Southern Utah's bats picked up where they left off Saturday as the Thunderbirds pounded their way to a 12-3, five-inning victory over Summit League foe Centenary.

"We've put a lot of pressure on ourselves," said junior catcher Brittany Henderson, "because we know that we are better than the way we've been playing."

If Henderson's efforts are any indication, the Thunderbirds are playing with renewed confidence. Henderson reached base on every at-bat in the Centenary series, batting 6-for-7 (she reached on a fielder's choice in her final at-ba, going down as a hitless at bat).

Her .857 series average was complemented by four walks, four runs scored and four RBIs. Henderson was also 5-for-5 in stolen bases, all while catching a doubleheader on Tuesday, a single game on Wednesday, another double dipperheader on Friday, and Saturday's series finale.

Aside from soar knees, the petite Las Vegas, Nev., native exclaimed, "It feels great to see us finally playing the way we know we canplay."