Jackson has up and down opening day at MWC heptathlon

Richard Anderson photo
Wyoming sophomore Britney Jackson clears the bar in the high jump during heptathlon competition in the Mountain West Conference championships Wednesday at the Louis S. Madrid Sports Complex.

MWC heptathlon results

By Rob Ketcham
Special to Wyoming Sports.org

While finishing the first segment of the heptathlon competition in last place Wednesday at the 2009 Mountain West Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships wasn’t exactly on Wyoming sophomore Britney Jackson’s list of goals, two personal records and an event victory were enough to keep her positive going into Thursday’s final three events.

Kicking off the first day of competition with the women’s heptathlon (seven events) and the men’s decathlon (10 events), UW played host to its first track and field conference championship in 41 years at the Louis S. Madrid Sports Complex.

Jackson’s overall woes began with the 100-meter hurdles, as she tripped on the sixth hurdle before violently tumbling into the next one as well. Although she got up and finished the race, the last-place finish put her nearly 1,000 points behind Brigham Young University’s junior phenom Amy Menlove right out of the gates.

Because of the fall, Jackson had her right ankle taped up for the rest of the day, but she said it didn’t play a factor in the afternoon’s remaining events.

Putting the hurdles behind her, Jackson went on to win the high jump, her favorite event, by clearing the bar at 5-feet, 7¼ inches, which was a new personal record. Immediately after landing safely with the bar intact, Jackson leapt in the air with her arms held high and celebrated the victory with UW Assistant Coach Quincy Howe.

“I pretty much jumped up out of excitement because I got a personal record and I hadn’t done very well in the hurdles,” she said. “I was just really determined to do well in the high jump.”

Still, Jackson’s high jump victory proved to be the high point of her day, as the uphill battle continued with seventh place in the shot put and last place in the 200-meter dash, leaving her in last place overall with three events remaining. At the moment, her 2,117 points puts her a little over 1,000 points out of first place, which is occupied by Menlove (3,195).

“Britney had a minor set back in the hurdles, but dusted herself off and had a first-class effort,” said Howe. “That is a problem that you like to see with the hurdlers because it shows that they are improving and getting faster. It is just disappointing that it had to happen today at the conference championships.”

In the end, Jackson said she is hopeful to move up in the standings during the second segment of the heptathlon on Thursday (noon), but she will have to compete in two of her least favorite events to do so.

“My least favorite is a tie between the 800 (death race) and javelin,” she said in her UW Athlete of the Week interview on the UW athletics Website. “It’s just embarrassing.”