LOGAN, Utah – Utah State track and field will host the annual Aggie Invitational in Logan, Utah, from Friday-Saturday, April 25-26, while select distance runners will race at the Payton Jordan Invitational in Stanford, California on Friday, April 25.
 
MEET INFORMATION
Aggie Invitational
Date: Apr. 25-26, 2025 
Start: Friday @ 3:00 p.m.; Saturday @ 11:00 a.m. (MT)
Site: Logan, Utah
Venue: Ralph Maughan Track Stadium
Live Results: AthleticLIVE
Streaming: Mountain West Network
Competitions: Meet Schedule
 
Payton Jordan Invitational
Date: Apr. 25, 2025 
Start: Friday @ 5 p.m. (MT)
Site: Stanford, California
Venue: Cobb Track and Angell Field
Live Results: Record Timing
Competitions: Meet Schedule
 
DIRECTOR OF TRACK & FIELD/CROSS COUNTRY ARTIE GULDEN
"It's always exciting to be competing at home. The timing this year is great because it allows the kids to stay home during finals week. We are looking to set up some events to hopefully get some more NCAA West prelim marks. Hopefully, we can have a number of family, friends and folks from the USU community come out to support the teams."
 
RUNNING IT BACK
Utah State returns seven all-MW performers from the 2024 outdoor season as the Aggie men placed fourth at the MW Outdoor Championships with 118 points and the women finished fifth with 62.5 points.
  
Junior Logan Hammer won the conference title in the men's pole vault with a Utah State-record clearance of 5.62 meters (18-5.25). Junior Javin Richards won two medals at the championships, finishing second in the pole vault with his mark of 4.97 meters (16-3.5) and third in the decathlon with 6,731 points. A trio of underclassmen earned all-MW honors, with sophomore Landon Bott claiming silver in the 800 meters by finishing in 1:49.52, sophomore Joseph Turner uncorking a throw of 55.39 meters (181-8) to place second in the discus and sophomore Walker Deede finishing runner-up in the javelin with a throw of 66.36 meters (217-8).
 
On the women's side, senior Emma Thornley won bronze in the 10,000 meters with a time of 34.17.99. Senior Adi Nielson is the lone returning member of the 4x400-meter relay team that finished third at the championships, clocking in at 3:39.88.
 
REWRITING THE RECORD BOOK
Utah State distance runners set two school records and eight times overall that rank in the school's all-time top 10 at the Stanford Invitational on April 4. Graduate Camren Todd shattered the USU record in the 10,000 meters with his finishing time of 28:10.91, a time 22.54 seconds faster than the record set by Luke Beattie in 2021. Junior Sarah Ellis became the first Aggie woman to break a school record in the 2024-25 campaign by running the 5,000 meters in 16:04.58, topping Mica Rivera's time of 16:07.73 set in 2023. Thornley and sophomore Brianne Smith set the third and sixth-best times in the women's 10,000 meters and sophomore Shelby Jensen posted the second-best 3,000-meter steeplechase time. On the men's side, sophomore Joshua McKee contributed the ninth-fastest 10,000-meter time, junior LJ Floyd moved into eighth in the 5,000 meters and junior Logan Garnica put up the third-best time in Aggie history in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
 
Aggie runners broke more records at the Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa, California, from April 16-18. Garnica broke the USU record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 8:33.91, topping graduate teammate Max Wehrli's mark from the 2024 edition of the meet. Jensen and Floyd each improved on their own top-10 times from two weekends prior while sophomore Garrett Woodhouse moved into seventh in Utah State history in the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase.
 
RAISING THE BAR
Hammer, who holds the USU outdoor pole vault record, made Aggie history by clearing 5.50 meters (18-0.5) at the BYU Indoor Invitational on January 11, setting the Utah State indoor pole vault record. His mark bested the previous record of 5.45 meters (17-10.5), which was set by Lance White in 1994 and matched by Mark Calvin in 1998. Hammer broke his own record the following week by clearing 5.55 meters (18-2.5) at the Snake River Open on Jan. 17. At the Roman Ruiz Speed and Power Invite on Feb. 1, Hammer broke both his own record and the George Nelson Fieldhouse record with his mark of 5.60 meters (18-4.5). On February 15, the Nampa, Idaho, product cleared 5.61 meters (18-4.75) at the Tyson Invitational to break the school record. Hammer tied his school record en route to a sixth-place finish at the 2025 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships, earning first-team All-American honors. He joins White as the only USU men's pole vaulters to earn both indoor and outdoor All-American honors.
 
On April 17, Hammer broke his own outdoor school record and Mountain West record at the Pacific Coast Invitational, clearing 5.68 meters (18-7.5), then broke it again two days later at the Beach Invitational with a height of 5.70 meters (18-8.25). Hammer currently has the top outdoor pole vault mark in the NCAA and the seventh-highest mark of any American, professional or collegiate, in 2025.
 
POLE VAULT U
Utah State pole vaulters have claimed eight top-10 placements in Aggie history so far in the 2025 track and field season. Hammer's indoor school record of 5.61 meters (18-4.75) headlined a prolific indoor season that also saw Richards set the sixth-best mark in school history at the Tyson Invitational with a clearance of 5.25 meters (17-2.75) and junior Marshall Rasmussen set the seventh best with a height of 5.21 meters (17-1) at the MW Indoor Championships. On the women's side, freshman Abbie Scott claimed the second-best height in Aggie history by clearing 4.11 meters (13-5.75) in her silver-medal performance at the MW Indoor Championships and freshman Lucy Jeppson set the fifth-best mark with her clearance of 3.88 meters (12-8.75) at the BYU December Invitational. Aggie vaulters have carried their momentum into the outdoor season, with Richards setting USU's fourth-best mark of 5.30 meters (17-4.75) at the Bobcat Invitational, Rasmussen posting the seventh-best mark of 5.19 meters (17-0.25) at the UNLV Rebel ELITE, and Hammer twice breaking the outdoor school record at April's Long Beach, California, meets.
 
LAST MEET
Utah State captured six individual titles and 15 podium finishes at the Bryan Clay Multis in Azusa, California, the Weber State Spring Classic in Ogden, Utah, and the Utah Spring Classic in Salt Lake City, Utah, from April 10-12. Aggie athletes had five performances across the three meets that ranked in the top 10 all-time in Utah State history.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
Fans can follow the Utah State track and field programs on X at USUTF_XC, on Facebook at USUTrack and on Instagram at USUTF_XC. Aggie fans can also follow the Utah State athletic program on X at USUAthletics or on Facebook at Utah State University Athletics.
 
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