An Instant Classic

It was a script that even ESPN Classic would want to air again. Two of the best collegiate high jumpers, from rival schools (Red vs Blue), having to go to a jump off to decide the winner at a conference championship meet. They have been down a similar path before as both are juniors and have beaten each other on this stage in previous championship events.

Both cleared 6-0.75 on their first attempts. The bar moved to 6-2 which would be lifetime bests for both jumpers. Each jumper had the bar cleared and knocked it off on the way down. That led to a sudden victory jump off. Each jumper getting a fourth attempt at 6-2. If both made the bar would move up, if both missed then the bar would lower two centimeters. If one made and the other didn't then a victor would be declared. After misses by both athlees at 6-2 (1.88cm) and 6-1.25 (1.86cm) a clearance was made at 1.84 by the first jumper. The second jumper would miss and the great rivals would embrace with a well deserved round of applause from everyone in attendance. Because it was the final field event before the 4x400 meter relays the meet came to a stop until the conclusion of this epic duel per conference championship rules (The 4x400 meter relays must be the final event and can not begin until all other events have ended).

Unfortunately (for us), the second jumper was Langley and the first her longtime rival from BYU (Ada Robinson). That ending described most of our close calls. Sophomore Amanda Mergaert finished second in the mile for the second straight year. A .27 second loss (4:51.73-4:52.00) after running an intelligent race was not the ending she deserved. That time was six seconds faster than she ran a year ago at this meet. In the shot put we went 4-7-8. Junior Candus Aeillo was probably our biggest surprise of the meet throwing a three foot PR to finish fourth. Newcomer Alanna Nulph also had a huge PR for seventh. Sophomore Nikkie Rudder had a tough day (by her standards) but was still able to finish eighth.

We also got a runner up finish from Lucy Yates who held on by less than half a second (2:09.39-2:09.86) for second.

Senior Alyssa Abbott entered the 3K as the defending champion. Through 2K she was in terrific position for a repeat, however it was not to be as she finished fifth after a great close by a pair of New Mexico teammates. Abbott is less than 15 weeks removed from surgery on her knee that kept her out of cross country. She ran a lifetime 3K PR two weeks ago, but the UNM girls on their home track had a great day.

Sophomore Angie Kaplar was sixth in the 60 meter hurdles (8.64) in Saturday's final. The 4x400 meter relay closed out the meet with a solid fourth place showing. Alyssa Johnson, Lucy Yates, Lauryn McKay, and Ashley Mosley ran 3:45.41 which is either the second or third fastest time in school history.

All in all it was a solid meet. We had a few nice surprises and no one really fell apart. We had eight all conference performances in five events (including four runner up finishes) and 19 of the 24 athletes we took to the meet figured in our 71.5 team points which gave us fifth place. We scored 8.5 less points a year ago for fourth. So it was a tough year in the league, especially among the top tier.

So Far, So Good

Day two at the conference championships meant five event prelims and five event finals. We were able to advance a runner into the 60 hurdles (Angie Kaplar), 400 meter dash (Alyssa Johnson), and 800 meter run (Lucy Yates) finals. There were not enough runners entered in the mile for a prelim, so Amanda Mergaert advanced to the final in that event as well. We are currently in third place with 28 points. Prior to the meet I think most people would have picked us for fourth or fifth. If we can perform at

In the 5K our two freshmen (Rebekah Winterton and AuraLea Fain) were 12th and 17th overall. I thought they both ran well even though I know they both wanted to finish a little higher. In the weight throw our usual duo of Anneli Stahl and Cindy Sanchez competed well and earned 4th and 7th places. As usual those positions were separated by only a few centimeters. Our vaulters also had very good days. Klaudia finished 6th overall (even though the results currently have her listed as 7th. There is an error that the officials will fix on Saturday prior to the meet). She cleared a season best 12-10.5. Theresa was 13th and had some good looks at 12-4 before bowing out. Bree LeRoy continued her impressive meet by returning to the facility today and picking up 5th place in the long jump with a lifetime best effort of 18-10.75.

There will be eleven event finals tomorrow and we have athletes qualified and competing in eight of them. So hopefully we can have another outstanding day. I was happy with the way we competed today and expect us to come out tomorrow and be aggressive. Most of the women competing tomorrow have experienced a great deal of success as this meet in the past and we'll be counting on them to use that experience to perform well again.

Thanks for all of your support. You can't believe all the alums and other supporters who email/text/facebook/etc. us with well wishes. We pass them along to the team and I know they appreciate it greatly.

And We're Off...

The indoor conference championships are underway. Day one was good to us as our multi eventers (Bree and Suzie) got us off to an excellent start. Both had PR's (Bree-3654; Suzie 2910). Bree recorded her first All-MWC honor with a runner up finish. Suzie was 13th in her first conference competition. Bree beat long time rival Mindy Sagers of BYU by three points to earn eight team points for our team and put us in second place overall after day one. The 800 was a battle. Mindy had to beat Bree by about six seconds to pass her. However, Bree gutted out her least favorite of the five events to just barely stay within that time frame and hang on to second. Her time was a season best and right at her 800 meter PR.

The bulk of the meet begins on Friday with prelims in the 60m-800m track races as well as finals in the weight throw, pole vault, 5K, and DMR.

Go to http://www.themwc.com/champ/itrack-champ-2011.html for live results.

To view all track races on a web delay of about 30 minutes go to: http://www.runnerspace.com/Mountain-West-Indoor-Championships

And, of course, check back here for more insider information and the coaches take on the weekends event.

Final Tune Up

With the conference championship meet starting on Thursday this week we used our final regular season meet at Weber State this past weekend as an opportunity to "fine tune" some of our athletes. We won five events and Angie Kaplar set another school record in the short hurdles. This time it was the 55m hurdles instead of the 60m event due to facility constraints. Her time of 7.96 in the prelims bettered the old mark (7.99) set by Elisha Kekacs back in 2000. Kaplar went on the win the event.

The Utes also won the high jump, weight throw, long jump, and mile events. Junior Langley Iverson cleared 5-7.75, junior Cynthia Sanchez threw a personal best 58-7.5, junior Bree Leroy leaped a lifetime best of 18-8, and freshman Kate Stringfellow ran 5:22.10 to claim victories.

The MWC championship meet starts on Thursday with the multi event and continues through Saturday. As a side note, the Utes have their highest number of athletes ranked in the top 10 pre-championship rankings since the MWC formed in the '99-'00 season.

UTES SET MORE SCHOOL RECORDS AT WASHINGTON
Mergaert 4:45.11, Kaplar 8.56

Utah tracksters had their best meet so far this season in the Flotrack Husky Classic at the University of Washington. Amanda Mergaert improved her two-week old school record in the Mile to 4:45.11. Angela Kaplar improved her record in the 60 Meter Hurdles to 8.56 finishing fifth in the finals. Anneli Ståhl and Alyssa Abbott had all-time second best performances in their respective events, the weight throw and 3000 Meters. Anneli threw over 60 feet for the first time, 60’9.25” missing the school record by only 2.75 inches and Alyssa had a big personal record and almost half a minute improvement from last week’s time clocking in 9:30.12. Utah’s 4x400 Meter Relay team Lauryn McKay, Alyssa Johnson, Lucy Yates and Ashley Mosley finished first with an all-time third best time of 3:46.46. Langley Iverson was second in the High Jump clearing an impressive 5’10”.

Utes had more outstanding performances. In the Shot Nikkie Rudder and Junior College transfer, sophomore Alanna Nulph were both in the finals and set new personal records, 46’8” and 45’5”, respectively. Nikkie’s mark is third and Alanna’s seventh on the all-time list. Candus Aiello almost made the finals with her best throw of 43’11.75”.

On Friday night in the 5000 Meters freshmen Rebekah Winterton and AuraLea Fain posted new lifetime best times, 17:33.01 and 17:49.03 resectively. Rebekah’s time is eight best time on the all-time list. The same duo ran new records first thing on Satuday morning, this time in the 3000 Meters. Winterton was the better of the two again clocking in a time of 10:07.90 placing fifth over-all while Fain finished with a time of 10:19.26 earning her 12th place. Nikki Dotter had a personal best time of 5:06.17 in the Mile.

In the Pole Vault Theresa Waybright tied her lifetime best height of 12’ 4”, which height was also cleared Klaudia Rokossa. Theresa’s mark is the sixth best vault on the all-time list.

Next the Utes travel to Weber State to compete in the Wildcat Tune-up Meet. The throwers will compete on Thursday the 17th and the rest of the team will compete on Saturday the 19th. It will be a good last check-up before the Mountain West Conference Indoor Championships the following week.

GO UTES!!!!!!

Another School Record

Our sophomore class has decided that the second time around is really better. After Amanda Mergaert broke her own school record in the mile last weekend, fellow soph Angie Kaplar felt it was time to get in the mix as well. Kaplar has been chasing older sister Jen Kaplar-Cutrer's Utah mark all season. That chase finally came to an end in Boise when she won the 60m hurdle event in 8.58 seconds, .02 faster than the old record.

Kaplar and Mergaert (800m) joined Langley Iverson (high jump) and senior Alyssa Abbott (2011 debut-3K) by winning their events. For Abbott it was her first race since last May. She missed the xc season due to undergoing knee surgery in November. Mergaert's 2:08.78 was another PR. Iverson won the competition with an easy clearance at 5-8.75. Abbott broke 10 minutes in her 2011 opener.

Klaudia Rokossa (pole vault) cleared 12-5.5 and Alyssa Johnson ran 56.57 in the 400m dash to claim runner up finishes. Bree Leroy was 4th in the long jump (18-1/5) and 8th in the 60 hurdles. (9.20).

The throwers had another solid day with as Nikkie Rudder (45-7.75) led a 3-4-5-6 finish in the shot put. Anneli Stahl (55-8.5) topped three Utes who finished 4-5-7.

We had a little more excitement on the way home than we were hoping for. Click HERE for details.

We're off to Seattle on Friday for the Husky Invite. Check out Flotrack.org for live coverage. Coach Bockman will tweet throughout the meet as well. Follow him at www.twitter.com/utah_trackfield