heSaltLakeTribune @ BASEBALL: SHEFFIELD RESCINDS TRADE DEMAND C-6 . Aggies Dancing Again BYU 69, NEW MEXICO 65 WITT, esley’s Way Center sends Y. back to NCAAs with MWCtitle USUdefense smothers UO oe! @ NCAA TRACK: WSU’S CLINGER WINS HIGH JUMP C-3 & TM, BMeee ae §,NAH pe POLtee c BY MICHAEL C. LEWIS ‘THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE ANAHEIM,Calif. — If they keep playing fense like this,the Utah State Aggiesaregoingto * wind upin the Super Bor For now,though, theywil have to seteoe the NCAA T BY PHIL MILLER THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE LAS VEGAS — Mekeli Wesley is Tournament. were bought paid for- the MonatainWest’s player ofthe year. Wesley scored 30 points, including 7 incredibk opponents all upend the Tigers (17-12), who made the title game easier on Utah State by upsetting top seed] and regular-season champion UC Irvine in the 7 a day athe bung Bole State scixeleta fr the final 12 minutes of their semifinal fi the Aggies forced another long scoreless s\ Cougars to the Mountain West tourna- ment championship with a 69-65 vic- — 7 minutes until the Tigers tipped in a bound at the end ofthe first half— to build a tory over New Mexico at the Thomas & Mack Center. “It’s hard to imagine, from four years ago to where we are today,” said pointlead. Pacific cut into that margin early in the second half. okt suarilBernie ick playa «emia? Wesley, who joined BYU's program dous game,helping to shut down Pacific's Maurice McLemore. ‘The Aggies will learn their seed — it won't with Cleveland just six months after the school’s 1-25 nightmare season. “Tt’s just a Cinderella story.” higher than a 12 — and destination when tournamentbracket is announced at 4:30 p.m. } ‘The Cougars needed a nearly per- sehenIE fect gamefrom their captain to hold off 4 Photos by Rick Egan/The Salt Lake Tribune an opponentriding the momentum of Belay ee eeThey te Wesley, chosen the tournament’s Mekeli Wesley, most valuable player practically by acclimation, missed only once in 12 shots. He missed only one of his eight free Matt Montague a hug above right, gives after beating New * Mexico for the MWC championshipin Las throws, andopaieagtsa team] high eight rebounds, his high since January. Be- cause of all of that, he will learn today Vegas on Saturday where he and his team will go to celebrate the crowning achievementof his historic Cougar career: an NCAA Tournament game. night. Wesley scored 30 points, including “This is an unselfish team. We have to get the ball to whomeveris playing well, and wefeed offhim,” said Cougar guard Terrell Lyday. “Mekeli had it going tonight.” thing, too. The Cougars,playing their third gamein three nights, looked weary and, for a time, vulnerable to a Lobo team that makes up in athleticism whatit lacks in discipline. Lyday, for example, was only a halfspeed version of the Cougar guard who scored 57 points over the previous two days,finishing with 11 points and four turnovers. Eric Nielsen was game, especially defensively, but had only To ColoradoState BY PATRICK KINAHAN ‘THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE . LAS VEGAS — A mere 10-pointdeficit was not aboutto rattle the Brigham Young women’s 15 in a row during onestretch,to lead the Cougars to the NCAA Toumament forthe first time in six basketball team in the Mountain West tourna- years.Atleft, Montague goes BYU, whichfinished 18-12, likely will not Fe: ceive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. undemeath New Mexico's Eric Chatfield to steal an mentfinals late Saturday nightat the Thomas & MackCenter. After overcoming a 20-point margin to beat Utah on Friday, the Cougars rallied against ColoradoState, but lost 59-56. The Mountain West's two NCAA teams will be Utah and Colorado State. BYU lost in the championship gamefor the second consecutive season. The Rams will make the NCAA Tour- inbounds pass, namentin large part because of the shooting of tumoverin the twothree-pointers in the last two minutes. With BYU leading 52-51, Borton made the first three-point shot. After BYU center Caro- forcing a Lobo seven points and two rebounds before fouling out. Noneofthat mattered once the Cougars whittled down their offense to one BYU WomenFall: 1s If that’s the case, he’s the one wearing glass sneakers. Katie Borton. The Colorado State reserve hit line Beus tied the score, Borton came back with anotherthree-pointer to give Colorado State a 57-54 lead. In the closing seconds, BYU's Stacy Jensen drew nothing butair on a three-point attempt See COUGARS,Page C-4 SINGLE-DISTANCE SPEEDSKATING Nice Ice Yields World Records Thrice Witty’s 1,000 meters among marks thatfall BY JANET|RAE BROOKS ‘THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE KEARNS Callit official. Utah is the new home of the fastest ice on Earth. With world records tumbling in three more events Saturday at the world single-listance championships, the Utah Olympic Oval has emerged as the new speed center of the long. track world. In just two days of competition, competitors have churned out four world records, nine championship marks, 42 national records and dozens of personal bests at the Kearns track. And with three races remain- 1 Oval draws bigcrowdsC11 ing today,thetally won't stop there. seconds. Monique Garbrecht-Enfeldt of Germany kicked off Saturday’s record-setting binge in the women’s 1,000 meters by reclaiming the record she lost a week ago to Park City’s Chris Witty. Olympic champion Hi- royasu Shimizu repossessed the men's 500-meter record, taken from him by Canadian Jeremy Wotherspoon more than two years ago, by firing off a 34.32-second clocking. Gunda Niemann-Stirnemann proved that the high-altitude Utah oval wasn't just a sprinters’ paradise by breaking her own mark in the wom: en's 5,000 meters’ by almost three unconscious by the fall, Voelker had been required to lie immobile in a dark room for two weeks and missed theworldsprint championships. “Theice is fastand it’s going to get faster,” said Casey FitzRandolph of Verona, Wis., who bettered his week: old American 500-meter record twice Saturday for a bronze / Garbrecht-Enfeldt, competing in the final pair of the women’s 1,000 meters against Witty, knew she would need a world record to dislodge teammateSabine Voelker from theleaderboard. Voelker had capped an amazing When Garbrecht-Enfeldt Voelker’s time ‘Sabine was s0 fast, I didn't think I could go faster,” said the 32year-old German, who married Swedish skater Magnus Enfeldt last summer. “My plan wastostart very fast and hope Witty could help me in the backstretch.” Witty had a slow opener after a false start and trailed Garbrecht- comeback from a January training Enfeldt by. more than half a second after 100 meters,Still hoping to catch at a World Cup in Calgary. Knocked See SPEEDSKATING,Page C-11 crash by shaving almost half a sec: ondoff Witty's mark set last Saturday INSIDE SPORTS Beaver Girls Maier, Schlopy 1-2 in World Cup ‘Austria's Hermann Maier, right, won @ giant slalom in which the USA's Erik Schlopy finished second. WINTER SPORTS, C-15 & Griffall's Carver on Riso, C-14 Wagner Comes Full Circle, C-14 1B Amoricans 1-2 in Nordic, C-15 povd GrinTie Sal Labe roars Japan's Manabu Horii, left, and Toyoki TakedaLeaps in the men's 500 meters Saturday at the Utah Olympic Oval.