HOUSTON - University of Hawai`i's Cheryl Smith won the 10,000-meter run at the Western Athletic Conference Championships in Houston while the Rainbow Wahine track team posted 27 personal bests.

Fresno State won the women's team title finishing with 129 points, just three points ahead of host Rice. Rounding out the top nine were Nevada (119), SMU (103), UTEP (83), Tulsa (80), Louisiana Tech (65), Boise State (63), and UH (49).

Winning the men's title was SMU with 205 points followed by UTEP at 170. Rounding out the top seven were Boise State (122), Fresno State (116), Rice (94), Louisiana Tech (61), and Tulsa (36).

"With the addition of both Louisiana Tech and Boise State this year, many of the team members bettered their scores from a year ago, but were lower in the placing," Head Coach Carmyn James said. "This year was definitely more tougher than last year."

UH's Smith earned two of four medals for the Rainbow Wahine, including the only gold. She took first place in the 10,000-meter run with a time of 36 minutes and 25.92 seconds. Smith also finished in second place in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 17 minutes and 13.82 seconds. She picked up 18 of UH's 49 points.

Casey McGuire-Turcotte was a silver medalist in the 1,500-meter run coming in second with a time of 4:31.55.

The fourth medal was won by Olivia Smoody taking home the silver in the high jump with a leap of 1.72 meters (5'7.75"). She tied SMU's Marie Norrman at the same height, but Norrman did it on her first jump while Smoody cross it on her second.

Furthermore, UH's Carolyn Berger, Nicole Kaffka, and Sadie Martin set school records in their respective events.

Berger set the UH mark in the Steeplechase becoming the school's all-time top performer with her run of 11:38.10.

Kaffka set new standards in the Heptathlon (4,284 points), triple jump (11.95 meters), and Day 1 total points in Heptathlon (2,753). She also set event marks inside the heptathlon for 100m hurdles (15.65), high jump (1.64m), 200 dash (26.49), and long jump (5.37m).

Martin set new marks within the Heptathlon in the shot put (10.91m) and 800-meter run (2:23.59).

Many Rainbows notched their names on the school's All-Time Top Performance List, including new No. 1's in the triple jump and heptathlon by Nichole Kaffka; Carolyn Berger in the Steeplechase; and No. 2 all-times by Olivia Smoody in the high jump and Sadie Martin in the heptathlon.

The NCAA outdoor track and field championships will be held May 29 through June 1 in Baton Rouge, La.