CLOVIS, Calif. – In its third Mountain West Outdoor Track & Field Championships under Head Coach Jason Drake, Fresno State again saw improvements from both of its squads. The Bulldog women finished the three-day meet at Veterans Memorial Stadium in fourth with 86.2 points while the men were seventh with 23.5 points.
Both teams have improved their point totals over each of its previous two years and moved up a spot from their 2022 finishes. The women secured their highest finish and most points since 2016. It was just the second time in 10 MW championship meets that the 'Dogs have finished above fifth and scored more than 80 points.
Without athletic scholarships, Fresno State's men have found things difficult since joining the Mountain West. On Saturday, the Bulldogs did something they haven't done since their first year in the conference when they finished five points clear of Wyoming. This time around, the 'Dogs finished a half point ahead of Boise State.
The day began with Cierra Jackson (55.35m/181-7) and Jordyn Bryant (53.76m/176-4) going 3-4 in the discus. Then less than 24 hours after registering a personal best in the long jump, Rachela Pace picked up another fifth-place finish and another PB on a sixth attempt, this time coming with a mark of 12.62m/41-5 in the triple jump.
While Pace was adding four points to the team's total, Kaitlynn Perez and Madison Hutton were adding 5.2 in the high jump. Perez placed fifth with a lifetime best of 1.68m/5-6 while Hutton tied for sixth at 1.63m/5-4.5.
On the track, Ceonna Pipion took the stage in all four events the 'Dogs featured in. Running the anchor on the 4x100 relay and the second leg on the 4x400, she and her teammates took sixth in both. In the 400 meters, the junior jumped to ninth all-time at Fresno State with a time of 53.86 to finish fourth. Teammate Iyanna Ross, the anchor on the 4x4 team, placed sixth at 55.11.
Pipion also went sub-24 in the 200 meters, finishing eighth with a time of 23.93. With that result she joined Njeri Omawahleh (2016) as the only Bulldogs to score in both the 200 and 400 at a MW Championship meet.
For the men, the 'Dogs had two opportunities to score on the track and they made them count. In the 4x100 relay, the group of Devon Sundgren, Bronson Ortlieb, Joey Turner and Enoch Okoh clocked a season-best 41.19 to finish fourth to score five crucial points.
With Fresno State trailing Boise State by 1.5 points going in the 4x400 relay, Caelan Bonniksen, Corey Ford, Dane Koesterer and Garrett Ostrinski did just what was needed, finishing seventh. The two points put the 'Dogs just ahead of the Broncos in the final standings.