Weber State campus briefs

TRACK AND FIELD: Weber State's men (5) and women (6), had a combined 11 qualifying times and mark for the 2010 Big Sky Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships, coming up next month in Bozeman, Mont.

The Wildcat men had qualifying times of 8.26 in the 60 meter hurdles by Tyler McBee (Jr.-Beaverton, Oregon) and a time of 48.63 from Taylor Pebley (Sr.-West Haven, Utah) in the 400 meters. McBee was the overall winner in the hurdle event. Pebley placed second in the 400 meters.

Mike Staker, a freshman from Taylorsville, jumped 6-06.75 in his first collegiate meet and qualified for the Big Sky Indoor meet.

Chris Struckman (So.-Portland, Oregon) also qualified with the same height in the event. Stake placed second and Struckman, fourth, in the event on misses. Five athletes all made the jump at 6-06.75.

Andy Heaton (Jr.-Kanab, Utah) won the men's Heptathlon with a career best of 4,817 points. That is the fourth best point total in WSU men's indoor track and field history. Heaton won the Pole Vault portion of the competition with a jump of 14-01.25.

"It was a good first meet for us," said WSU men's track and field coach, Dan Walker. "Andy had an outstanding performance considering it's barely over the first week in January. The other qualifying marks were a good start to what should be more improvement in the coming weeks."

On the women's side, Michaela North (Sr.-Kennewick, Washington) scored a career high 3,212 points in the Pentathlon to qualify for the Big Sky Conference Indoor meet. That is the eighth best point total in WSU women's track and field history. In the Pentathlon, North ran a time of 9.10 in the 60 meter hurdles which qualifies her for the Big Sky meet in that event as well.

Ally Dean (Sr.-South Ogden) also qualified in the 60 meter hurdles. She ran a career best 8.97 in the trials and finished fourth in the finals. Dean also qualified in the 400 meter dash with an indoor career best 57.09 finishing third.

Kristin Billings (So.-Kaysville) and Floreece Williams (So.-North Las Vegas, Nevada) each qualified for the Conference meet in the 60 meter dash. Williams placed fourth in the finals with a time of 7.82 while Billings placed seventh in a time of 7.85.

"We went out and got our feet wet," said WSU women's track and field coach, Jim Blaisdell. "It was a good start to the season.

This gives us a benchmark to work on for next week's big meet in Pocatello. Ally Dean and Michaela North are our senior leaders and they led the way today."

Weber State got a first place finish from freshman Amber Henry (Mountain View, Wyoming). The four-time Wyoming state 800 meter champion won in a time of 2:19.96.

Both teams will have a full compliment of athletes next week, traveling to Pocatello for the Snake River Open inside Holt Arena on Friday.