Sacramento State track and field received one last tune-up before it travels to the Big Sky Championships this Saturday in Bozeman, Mont.

 

The Hornets participated in the Husky Classic Feb. 8-9, which was hosted by the University of Washington. The meet featured some of the top runners in Division I.

 

Sac State placed seven individual events over the two-day span that included sophomore Dominique Whittington winning the women’s 800m and senior Erika Jones winning the shot put and coming in third in the weight throw.

 

On the men’s side, sophomore Paul Lyons finished third in the 60m hurdles, freshman Londeen McCovery finished third in the high jump and sophomore Zach Coniglio was runner up in the shot put and weight throw.

 

“There was great competition at the Husky (Classic),” said Hornets’ distance coach Scott Abbott. “It prepared a lot for our athletes in terms of being ready for the competitive demands of our conference championships.”

 

The event also featured junior distance runner Nathanael Litwiller breaking the school record in the men’s 800m. Just one week after breaking Sac State’s record in the mile run, he ran a 1:49.50 in the 800m, roughly one and a half seconds faster than the previous record he set in 2011.

 

Not only did the team have success on the track, but in the field events as well. One man who had success in the field was Coniglio, who scored a 58-04.00 in the shot put event.

 

“The whole team did what we needed to do,” Coniglio said. “We left everything there. People qualified that needed to qualify for conference.”

 

Coniglio said that the Husky Classic made him feel better about throwing, going into the Big Sky Championship.

 

Sac State has won 11 conference championships over the last five years, some of which include men’s team indoor in 2007 and 2008, and the women’s team in the indoor competition of 2010.

 

In 2011, Sac State became the third school in Big Sky history to win four team titles during the same season. The women’s team defeated its competition by 50 points, while the men defeated their host, Idaho State, by half a point.

 

Senior team captain of the sprints squad Justin Nesbitt said the Husky Classic was a measurement of where the team is at and showed the outcome of their training.

 

“We’re definitely ready to compete in the Big Sky Championship,” Nesbitt said.

 

Nesbitt recorded a 50.26 in the men’s 400 distance race at the Husky Classic. In 2012, he was ranked sixth in the 200 and eighth in the 400 with the top time of 49.33 during the Husky Classic. His time currently ranks ninth fastest in Sac State history.

 

The Big Sky Championships will take place Friday through Saturday at Montana State University.