Conference Week

It's conference week for the cross country team and neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow, nor darkness will keep us from our preparation!  Susannah, AuraLea, and Rebekah had to go early this morning (7am) due to some academic conflicts this afternoon.  They had a terrific workout despite the constantly changing weather that happened to roll through this morning.  (Of course as soon as they finished the weather lightened up considerably).

Be sure to go to the cross country page at www.utahutes.com (select media tab) to check out my weekly press conference.

We are off to Colorado on Friday and race on Saturday morning at 11:40am. 

Three is Our Number

While our streak of finishing third in three straight meets came to an end the number three is still going strong.  At the Stanford Invite we finished fourth for the third straight year.  Junior Susannah Hurst finished fourth in her.....I'll give you one guess....yep....third straight meet.  And now we have three weeks until our next meet.

We are still searching for more consistency in regard to our scoring five and top seven runners.  Our top  three (Rebekah, Susannah, and Andrea) all seemed to have found a grove.  However, our 4-7 are still fighting not only to improve, but when they do improve hang on or even build upon that increased output.  Most of that can be related directly to the fact that we are very young in those positions with three freshmen among the five.

If we want to achieve our preseason goals we have to continue to stay healthy/get healthy and find consistency in all of our running.

We are off for the next two weekends and return to action on October 19th at the Pre National meet on the NCAA Championship course in Terre Haute, IN.

Be sure to check out my weekly press conference at http://utahutes.cstv.com/sports/c-xc/utah-c-xc-body.html  Click on the Multi Media tab in the center of the page.

and The Award Goes Too?

Five time University of Utah All American Amanda Mergaert. 

As usual the Utah/Southern Idaho Chapter of the M.S. Society Dinner of Champions was a gala event.  This dinner brings "champions" from all parts of life together in a celebration of achievement and awareness.  Multiple Sclerosis affects 1 in 300 people.  It can affect anyone but typically is diagnosed between ages 20-50.  This years event celebrated athletic champions who along with there commitment to their sport also volunteer in the community in various ways.  The event also highlighted careers of people who are supporting those with MS, individuals living with MS, and the  continued research of a cure for MS. 

Mergaert was honored as the College Female Athlete of the Year by this great organization.  She is the second University of Utah Track & Field/Cross Country athlete earn this award in the 35 year history of the event (Alyssa Abbott, 2011). 

Pictured is Dinner of Champions host Philip G McCarthey, Amanda, and myself. 

To have two award winners in the past three years speaks volumes about the type of people we have in our program.  They spend countless hours between school work, running, and volunteering in the community...giving back.  We have many other student athletes who are on a similar path and I know both Amanda and Alyssa would say this honor is something they can share with all of their teammates.  An awesome night with some truly inspiring people.

Stuck in 3rd Gear

We've ran two meets and we've finished third as a team twice.  Like most teams we have work to do, but know we will be better later in the season.  Practices have gone well thus far, but we simply need more time to learn how to run together and be able to finish better.

To hear more about our recent home meet and learn more about our upcoming meet at Montana State go to the cross country page at www.utahutes.com and listen to my press conference.

Camping Utah Style

With preseason camp complete we are now looking forward to school starting and our first competition at Utah State on August 31st.  We had lots of fun running at camp, discussing goals, making homemade pasta, and making a few new animal friends.  

Victory Lap!

Sorry for the lateness of this report.  In the final outdoor race of the 2013 Utah Track & Field season and the final race of her collegiate career, senior All American, Amanda Mergaert went out a winner.  The time (2:08) wasn't a PR and the field wasn't nearly as strong as it was two days earlier, but a win is a win.  The LaFarge High Performance meet in Abbotsford, BC, Canada was the second in a three meet series over five days in British Columbia.  Amanda took control of the race early and never looked back as the nearest competitor was three seconds back.

She called it her victory lap for what will go down as one of the greatest seasons by any individual in any sport in Utah school history.

A full recap of her stellar career will be posted soon at www.utahutes.com.  It will be a great retrospective of her development as a runner.  She'll be the first to tell you it wasn't always easy and came with a few rough patches.  However, she always accepted the challenges and looked forward to the opportunities that came her way.  Along the way she learned how to become a genuine and effective leader.  Most importantly, she learned she could do it her way and enjoy all of the success that her and her teammates enjoyed along the journey.

She recently signed a professional contract to run for Oiselle (pronounced Wa-Sell) during the 2014 season.  Check out www.oiselle.com to learn more about this unique and growing women's apparrel company.  

And finally...it's time for summer break.  I will be looking ahead to what we believe will be another outstanding cross country season for the Utes in 2014.  It will be a young squad with no seniors in the top five, but three of the five have NCAA championship experience on the track.  Check back her for more details and the season schedule soon!

The Prize

It's something that caught her eye on her recruiting trip.  It's something that has been so temptingly close to happening.  Yet, it was a mark that was like Stockton to Malone and an NBA title...always a near miss.  The 800 meter school record is the mark that Amanda has been chasing her whole career.  Even when her premier event became the mile her sophomore it's something she has always coveted.

Finally..today...in her first international race...she took it down...and did so with authority.  Her lifetime best of 2:06.33 was accomplished in April on a breezy day after a tough 1500 the day before.  That left her .12 short of Lucy Yates's 2011 mark of 2:06.21.  At the Drake Relays she came up short by less than half a second again.   Then began a series of eight consecutive 1500 meter races to end the collegiate season.

Her patience and focus has paid off as today in Vancouver at one of Canada's most famous track meets (and on Canada Day to boot) she ran 2:04.73 to finish second in the 800m race.  She was just out leaned at the line by season line rival Rebecca Tracy (2:04.71) for the win.  Even 400m splits of 62 seconds including a furious move down the backstretch to get into contention made the difference.

Amanda's final race of the 2013 season will be another 800m run on Wednesday night in Abbotsford, BC at the Lafarge High Performance meet.

7th in the Country

As great as 3rd in the NCAA sounds, 7th in the country might sound even better.  Sorry for the long delay with this posting.  I saved it as a draft and forgot to post it after such an exciting trip.  The final of the women's 1500 at the US Championships featured three collegians and nine professionals.  The winning time was the third slowest in the meets history due to no one being willing to lead on a hot and windy day.  They went out slower than the 10K gals did two nights before.  That, of course, favored the kickers and those who were not afraid to fail.  That perfectly describes how Amanda has run this year.  She led the early laps in front of national TV audience.  With 600 meters to go the pace started to pick up and she held off the pack.  With 400 to go she found herself surrounded and on the rail.  At 350 m to go she tripped, but quickly regained her stride and was able to hang on to the main pack that was now beginning to move hard down the backstretch.  Down the homestretch is was total chaos with runners in weaving in and out trying to secure the highest position they could.  Amanda landed in 7th and less than a full second from third.  It was that close!  Three first team All American honors and now 7th at the US National meet...what a season!

On to the Finals!

Those four words never get old and we've been able to say them a lot this year.  Amanda ran another strong prelim race at the US Championships and qualified for Saturday's 1500 meter final.  As one of only three collegians to qualify for the race it shows the quality of that event in the US.  She ran 4:15.54  to capture the final spot.  That is her sixth race with a time of 4:15 or faster in the last eight weeks.  Her slowest time of the year in that event is 4:20 in the prelim round at Pac-12's, which was an easy effort.

Saturday's final will be televised on Universal Sports Channel at 4:45p (CDT).  Check with your local cable provider regarding your channel lineup:)

If I can get pics from the prelims I'll post them asap.  I hope this season never ends!

We made it to Des Moines and the US Championships.  In usual Amanda fashion she has made another new friend.  2012 Olympic 400 Meter Gold Medallist, Sanya Richards-Ross, happened to be checking in at the same time as us.  After a short introduction and a photo op you'd have thought these two were old friends.  They chatted about bunions and commencement speeches among other topics.

Semi final race is today at 4:40p local time.  Go to www.usatf.org for video link and results.  This meet tends to place a little more emphasis on time than  the NCAA meet does in regard to qualifying.  Therefore, the advancement rules are top three in each heat and then the next six times.

Triplets!!!

I apologize for posting this great news so late.  It was a busy week last week.  I have trying to obtain some great photos (which I have seen, just haven't received permission to download yet) from the NCAA Championships.

In case you missed it...Amanda closed out her collegiate career by finishing third at the NCAA Championships in the 1500 meter race.  Her semifinal was tightly bunched, but she calmly placed fifth (automatic advancement) and moved into the final.

In the final she was about as aggressive as I've ever seen her.  With 900m to go she moved from seventh to second by literally jumping from the rail to lane two.  She stayed near the lead through 300m to go when the packed tightened back up as the readied for a big stretch sprint home.  With 200m to go she was in fifth but trapped on the rail again and everyone was bumping and banging or as Harry Hogg would say "Rubbin' is Racin'.  Amanda held her ground and the inside line down the final 100m and was able to beat all but two for her third First Team All American honor this year.  (14th in XC, 5th in the indoor mile).

First Team AA honors (top 40 in xc, top eight in both indoor and outdoor track) in the same academic year in all three sports is an extremely rare accomplishment.  I believe there were only five athletes in the entire NCAA who did that this year.  The other four were all long distance gals (3,000 meters and up).  Amanda was the only "middle distance" runner to do it.  There are numerous "land mines" that can sidetrack this effort from illness to injury to stress.  Amanda mostly avoided those issues or if she did have to deal with them it was not at championship time.

Up next:  Amanda will likely be competing in the 1500 meter race at the USA Championships on Thursday (and Saturday if she qualifies for the final).  The top three at this meet will represent the US at the World Championships later this summer.

I'll post pics from the NCAA as soon as I receive them.

Just a Hangin'

There is yet a new social media opportunity thanks to Google.  Someone has to be the guinea pig at Utah, so it might as well be us.  See the release below and please help us make it successful by sending a question.  

Utah Athletics will host its first-ever Google+ hangout on Monday, June 3 at noon MDT with Amanda Mergaert of the track and field team and head coach Kyle Kepler. Mergaert, a senior All-American in both cross country and track, has qualified for the NCAA Championships in the 1,500 meters for a third-consecutive year.

The hangout will be shown live on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/user/uathletics/videos) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/uathletics). We invite fans to submit questions via twitter with the hashtag #utehangout.

Back to Austin

Sorry for the long break between posts.  Struggling a bit with my blog service, but seems to be back up and running again.  The picture above is the crowd at our home meet which was awesome.  Here is a quick recap of what you missed.

At the Pac-12 Championships we finished 11th led by Amanda Mergaert's fourth place finish in the 1500 meter race.  She was only .7 from winning in an outstanding race.  Rebekah Winterton was sixth in the 10K.  Rosalie Waller and Andrea Chavez were sixth and seventh in the 800 meter final.  Destanae Howerton Davis took eighth in the discus as well.  We had several other top ten finishes.  I thought the effort was there, but I know we were disappointed not to score in a few more events and push our point total over what we scored a year ago.

The final qualifiers for the NCAA Preliminary rounds were announced earlier this week.  We were fortunate to have 10 athletes qualify in seven events:

Seniors
Amanda Mergaert:  800/1500 (will only run 1500m)
Steph Jolley:  400H
Klaudia Rokossa: Pole Vault
Anneli Stahl:  Hammer

Juniors
Rosalie Waller: 800
Destanae Howerton Davis:  Discus

Sophmores
Ali Eisenbeiss: 800
Susannah Hurst: 10K
Rebekah Winterton: 10K
Aoife Hickey: Hammer

Congrats to these gals for advancing to the Preliminary round held in Austin, TX this coming Thurs-Sat.  The top 12 in each event will move on to the NCAA Finals held June 6-9 in Eugene, OR.

Busy, busy

It's been a busy couple of weeks with meets in LA (Mt Sac Relays and Long Beach St Relays) and Des Moines (Drake Relays and Robison Invitational).  We also had the Senior Banquet in between.  Lots of great performances and a celebratory evening mixed in.  We won two awards at the Senior Banquet with Candus Ford winning the top female academic award and Lauren McKay picking up the Community Service award for all of her efforts outside of the track and classroom.  Well deserved to say the least!

This is final exam week and we have a final tune up meet at Weber State tonight with a few athletes.  Followed by graduation this weekend for our 12 seniors.  Next week we will put our full focus on the Pac-12 Championship meet which starts on May 11th at USC.  Be sure to watch my weekly press conference for more information about our results from this past weekend which included two school records and two third place finishes at Drake.

Coach Bockman has also set up an instagram page.  Search UtahTrack to find those pictures.

Where have you been?

I know, I know...I've been a bit of a slacker recently.  Between hosting our home meet and then traveling to the traffic jungle of the world (LA) for three different meets this past weekend it's been a bit hectic.

However, the results have been worth the travel and sometimes logistical craziness that can be track and field.  We set three (and within .12 seconds of a fourth) school record in that time.  We have several athletes in position to qualify for the First/Second Round of the NCAA Championships as well.

Be sure to click HERE to see my weekly press conferences to learn more details about the last two weeks.  Choose the Multi media tab in the center of the page and then choose a video from the previous weeks.  New videos are typically added each Wednesday.

Tonight we honor our seniors at the Crimson Club Hall of Fame and Senior Banquet downtown SLC.  It will be a great time.  We will be honoring 12 outstanding seniors who have helped our program grow tremendously.  I am incredibly grateful to each of them for their achievements and being part of our program for the last 4/5 years.  They will leave us as one of the most successful and important groups in Utah Track & Field/Cross Country history.  They have filled our top ten lists with several memorable performances and they have been terrific stewards in the classroom and the community.

Congrats to each of them!!!

Stanford Recap

We are slowly figuring out a few technical glitches in regard to posting my press conferences.  I think we finally have it worked out.  So I'll post the Stanford recap today and then the recap from this past weekend at ASU should go up on Wednesday.

Click HERE and then choose the Multi Media tab to view the Stanford Recap (3/27).

Also...don't forget this is our big week in regard to our home meet...Utah Spring Classic...on Friday evening.  We expect to have another great field of athletes.  As far as the schedule we once again have a short program of events which will be both exciting to watch and not last into the wee hours of the night.

The hammer will begin at 2pm at Guardsman Field.  At the track we will have a couple of field events starting prior to the track events. 3:30p (men's pole vault) and 4:30p (women's long jump).  Beyond that all the other events will be held in a 2.5 hour window starting at 5pm.

Admission and parking are free.  Bring a chair or blanket to sit on the bermed hillside.  There will be kids races at 7:20p.  There will also be an alumni tent with snacks and drinks.  We invite our alums to come reminisce about their time at Utah and support the current team trackside.  We will also be saying "goodbye" to 12 seniors who have meant more than words can say to the growth of our program in the last five years.

See you on Friday.

USC Recap

Sorry for the delay on posting my press conferences.  The host site for my blog has a very defined limit for video content.  For those of you who know me fairly well, you know that keeping my answers brief is not something I'm known for...especially as it relates to speaking about my team.

So click HERE to be taken to last weeks presser about USC.  Be sure to click on the Multi Media tab in the middle of the page and then choose the March 27th Recap.

I will the link and some pictures from the Stanford meet in a day or two when the video becomes available.

Parental Control

Check out the highlight video from our meet at USC....courtesy of freshman Allison Aafedt's parents who attended the meet.  It's a family affair here at Utah Track & Field!!!

Highlights

We had another solid outing by several of our athletes.  The 2013 season is off to a great start and we are not even into April yet.  Keep checking back for more highlights and of course my weekly press conferences. 

Go Utes!

Mar 20 Presser

Due to some technical challenges with this blog host site I wasn't able to upload this weeks press conference.  However if you click HERE you will see the uncut version located on the Utah Athletics web page.  Once you bring up the page click on the multi media tab in the center of the page. 

I guess the good thing about doing it this way is that you can see the entire press conference at once rather than having to view it in multiple parts due to my blog host site only allowing 100MB or less videos per post.

Enjoy.  We're off to Southern Cal this weekend to take part in the USC Trojan Invite for the first time.  Hopefully, we'll draw some great weather and be able to post a few more good marks. 

NCAA Recap Presser Part 1

This is the first of three parts in this weeks press conference recapping the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships held this past weekend at the University of Arkansas.  Listen to find out how senior Amanda Mergaert finished and how she felt about her experience.  I will also talk about opening up the outdoor season at San Diego State this coming weekend.  Parts two and three of this weeks press conference are posted below part one.

NCAA Recap Presser

NCAA Recap Presser

http://www.letsrun.com/photos/2013/ncaa-indoor-friday/imagepages/image187.php

It was a battle, but would you expect anything less in an NCAA semi final?!  Amanda was patient and wrestled the field to grab the final auto qualifying spot into tonight's final.  With 200m to go she had slipped to sixth place in a race that required fourth to advance.  Then her drive and toughness came through. She moved to fifth on the backstretch before coming off the final turn and passing a runner she had never beaten on the track to capture that finals spot.  Her 800 splits (2:23/2:15) indicate the type of rough and tumble race it was.

The mile final can be viewed live at 6p CST tonight on ESPN3 on your computer.  Be sure to go to the U of Utah Facebook page (search University of Utah Track & Field) to wish her good luck.

Click on the photo link above to see just how close it was down the final 40m straightaway.

March 4th Pressor

The 2013 indoor season will come to an end this weekend at the NCAA Championships in Fayetteville, AR.  For the second time in three years we have a qualifier at "the hardest NCAA championship to qualify for."  In no other sport do they take as few qualifiers (by percentage of total participants) as they do for indoor track.  Only the top 16 individuals and top 12 relays make it to the NCAA indoor meet.  That is less than 5% of the total athletes who actually qualify for the NCAA championships.

For all of her accomplishments (Cross Country All American, 3x NCAA XC qualifier, 2x Second Team All American, 6x NCAA outdoor qualifier) this will be senior, Amanda Mergaert first trip to the NCAA indoor championships.  She will compete in the mile for the final time as a Ute this weekend.  Fridays semi finals will begin at 5:30pm (CST) and the finals on Saturday will be held at 6:00pm (CST).

The last three years have seen our distance medley relay just miss.  Our time last year would have put us in this years meet.  She missed qualifying in the mile by less than a half second a year ago.  So to finally kick down the door as a senior is an opportunity I know she is greatly looking forward to.

Below is this weeks press conference (in three parts) outlining what lies ahead for Amanda.  Be sure to wish her good luck on our team facebook page (Search University of Utah Track & Field).  The rest of our team will use the next two weeks to prepare for the outdoor season which will begin on March 15-16 at the Aztec Invitational in San Diego, CA.

Part 2

Part 3

Not Always PC, Pt 1

We some very good performances including a near school record in the 800 meters at the MPSF Championships in Seattle this past weekend.  This weeks pressor comes in two parts.  Be sure to listen to both.

Not Always PC! Pt 2

Weekly Press Conference

To virtually no ones surprise I got a little windy during this weeks press conference.  The file was so big I had to break it up into three parts to meet the limits of my blog content postings.  Parts two and three are below this opening session.  Enjoy.

Part 2

Part 3

Weekly Press Conference

Check out this weeks press conference as I talk about our record setting weekend in Seattle.

Weekly Press Conference

It's back!  We've been updating our technology and therefore haven't been able to hold my normal weekly press conference.  However, I think we've got everything updated and here is the newest version.

I.I.W.

Idaho Improvement Weekend

We traveled to Idaho this past weekend and came away with some very good improvement and a new school record.  The throwers competed at the Mountain States Games in Pocatello.  Senior Anneli Stahl broke her own school record in the weight throw with a toss of 61-9.  Cyndi Sanchez and Aoife Hickey went 2-3 behind Stahl.  In the shot put it was Destanae Howerton Davis and Candus Ford going 1-2 with throws over 45 feet.

The rest of the team traveled to Boise for the Bronco Invite and and came away with three victories and several season best performances.  Seniors Klaudia Rokossa (pole vault) and Angie Kaplar (100m hurdles) each won their events.  The 4x400m relay team of Alyssa Johnson, Ali Eisenbeiss, Lauryn McKay, and Rosalie Waller combined for a season best mark of 3:50.  We also went 2-3 in the 800 (Waller and Eisenbeiss) and the 3K with Susannah Hurst and Rebekah Winterton. 

We also had several freshmen compete well this past weekend as they continue to learn how to compete at the Division I college level.

This coming weekend we will be at the Husky Classic in Seattle.  It is annually one of the top meets in the country.  I expect our athletes to be ready to compete at their highest level of the season which will hopefully produce several lifetime and season best marks.

Victories and PR's Plentiful in New Mexico

Five event wins highlighted our weekend at the New Mexico Collegiate Invite.  On Friday it was a trio of 1-2 finished for the Utes.  Cynthia Sanchez and Aoife Hickey getting things started with a 1-2 finish in the weight throw.  Both had lifetime best throws including Sanchez's first toss over the 60 foot barrier.  Another 1-2 finish came in the high jump where fifth year senior Langley Iverson and true freshman Kailey Hansen both cleared 5-4.  Finally, it was Rosalie Waller and Ali Eisenbeiss turning in the top two 600 meter performances separated by only a half second.  Kate Stringfellow was a heat winner as she had a 13 second lifetime best in the 3K.

The throwers kicked things off on Saturday as well with a 1-2-4 finish in the shot put.  Candus Ford had personal best throw of 48-0.  Destanae Howerton Davis (46-10.75) and Cynthia Sanchez (43-9, PR) completed the Utes order.  Senior Amanda Mergaert opened her season with a win, a lifetime best, and #2 all time Utah performance in the 800 (2:07.46).  Pole vaulter Klaudia Rokossa cleared 12-8 to finish in a tie for second place.   Eisenbeiss and Griffin returned in the 400m dash on Saturday to finish 4-5 with lifetime best times (56.57 and 56.88).  Alyssa Johnson was seventh in 57.06.  Sophomore distance runner Susannah Hurst also had a solid day finishing seventh in the mile (5:04) and the 3K (10:05).  Senior Angie Kaplar was also seventh in the 60m hurdles (8.93).

I was pleased with many of our performances.  We won some events and definitely saw a lot of improvement.  Our kids were focused and ready to go for the most part.  After a week of practice that was limited by not having our normal training facility available due to an event conflict I was really impressed by our effort.  This was our first look at a few of our distance runners and for the most part they ran well.  The throwers look in mid season form and the sprinters, hurdlers, and jumpers all looked more relaxed and comfortable this week.  We'll be challenging them to reach new heights and compete at an even higher level in the coming weeks.

A big week of practice looms as we return to SLC.  We'll be in Boise next Saturday.

As Real As It Gets!

The Rev. Jesse Jackson spoke in our arena today as part our MLK Jr celebration this week.  Very powerful message from someone who has spent his entire life promoting civil rights and diversity.  His interaction with the crowd was very real and his thoughts profound.  If you get an opportunity to hear him speak I highly suggest you take advantage of it. 

Route 66

After two solid opening meets (throwers at Provo and sprints/hurdles/jumps at Boise) we will head to Albuquerque, NM for our first meet with a full roster of events.  The distance runners will begin their season this weekend by joining the rest of our team for the New Mexico Collegiate meet.

Last weekend in Boise we had one event winner and several other top three finishes.  Senior Cyndi Sanchez won the weight throw on the final throw of the competition.  Sophomore Ali Eisenbeiss was second in the 400 meters.  High jumpers Kailey Hansen and Langley Iverson (returning after redshirting the 2012 season) went 2-3 to highlight some of the efforts.  

Overall, we had a solid opening meet.  We have plenty of room for improvement which is what you hope for at the beginning of the year.  We'll go to New Mexico this weekend and continue to work to get better.  Right now we need races and competitions as much or more than we need practice.  The girls are hungry and excited.  Competition begins on Friday afternoon and continues through Saturday. Be sure to check back for results and pictures.

Our throwers opened the 2013 indoor season in style by winning both throwing events and placing several individuals in the top ten.  I have included Coach Kuusela's full wrap up below for your reading pleasure.  Enjoy!
 

Utah Throwers Dominate at BYU Invitational

Utes claim top three spots in the shot put

Provo, UTAH (TK) -  Competing at the BYU Invitational, the University of Utah women throwers dominated the field on Saturday.

The Utes recorded an impressive performance in the weight throw with six athletes qualifying for the finals. Capturing the event title was senior Anneli Stahl posting a mark of 60-6. Cynthia Sanchez finished third overall with a throw of 55-6.25.

Making her Utah debut was Aoife Hickey finishing in fourth with a throw of  54-6.  Destanae Howerton-Davis (48-11) and freshman Sosina Salima (45-4.5) finished seventh and ninth, respectively for the Utes. Competing unattached was Nikkie Rudder finishing fifth with a mark of 52-5.5.

In the shot put the Utes had five athletes qualify for the finals including three earning the top three spots. Rudder competing unattached, won the event with a mark of 47-10. Candus Ford finished second place with a throw of 46-4.25, followed by Howeton-Davis in third place posting a mark of 46-3.

Returning from a recent arm injury, Alanna Nulph showcased an impressive return, earning fifth place with a throw of 42-1.5.  In her first collegiate meet, Salima finished seventh with a throw of 40-3.5.

Due to poor weather conditions, the Utah sprints, hurdles, jumps and distance athletes did not compete at the Snake River Open, but will head to the Bronco Invitational in Nampa, Idaho on January 19.

 

Let's Get It Started...

Happy New Year!  I know it's been a while since my last post, but we all need some time away during the holidays.  We ended the Fall semester well and have begun the Spring semester on a high note as well.  Besides the first few days of practices and classes being full in energy we also received good news that our team GPA for the Fall semester was well over 3.30.  I also included a picture of the letter we received from The Haven which is a local organization that works closely with groups like the United Way to provide assistance to families and individuals who are in great need.  As part of our community service efforts our team was able to raise some funds in order to provide some toys as Christmas gives to some very deserving young children. 

The throwers (BYU Invite) and the sprinters/hurdlers (Snake River Invite) will open the 2013 indoor season for our team this weekend.  Both groups had excellent Fall training periods and have come back after the holiday break looking good in workouts thus far.  They are excited to compete for the first time and find out where they are at.  The rest of team will not open up until Jan 25-26 at the New Mexico Invite.  This is by design based on their training needs.  Choose your favorite option(s) and be sure to follow us all season long.

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