Senior Banquet

The annual University of Utah Senior Banquet was held last night at the Hilton Hotel in downtown Salt Lake City.  I really enjoy this event as it celebrates the accomplishments of all of our student athletes.  It also puts our athletic department, athletics supporters, and university administration in a great setting for saying "thank you" for all that they do for our teams and coaches.  

We have 10 seniors leaving our program at the end of this year.  It is a very special group in every way.  This is the group who were freshmen during my first year as the head coach.  They have endured and survived great change in that period.  Most importantly, they have become the foundation for this program to continue to build and grow back to what it was in the 80's and early 90's.  This will always be a group of women who I will count on to support our program for the rest of their lives as well as seek advice from as we continue to move forward.  

I will forever be indebted to them for their positive attitudes, perseverance, and hard work.

As a special note, senior Lauren Endersen was presented with the Budd Jack top female student award. She carries a perfect 4.0 GPA and will be attending medical school at The Ohio State University next fall.  OSU boasts one of top 15 medical schools in the country.  

Again, congratulations to all of our seniors.    

Producing PR's and Top 10's

Wow!  What a weekend for the Utes.  We had personal records (PR's) in almost every event.  Both distance runners (Kellie Anderson-10K and Lauren Endersen-5K) who went to the Mt Sac Relays ran PR's.  

At Utah State the remainder of our team won five events and had 13 other top three finishes.  Sarah Grimm and Josefin Berg continue to be a big time 1-2 punch in the hammer throw.  Sarah had another five foot PR to go to 199-0 which leads the conference and is third on the all-time school list.  She also ranks fifth in the NCAA West Region.  

Chelsea Shapard regionally qualified in her second event after running a lifetime best 54.50 in the open 400 meter race.  1500 meter runner Chelsea DiGrazia ran a new PR of 2:13 for 800 meters placing her second overall.

So far this outdoor season (four meets) our team has set 51 new lifetime best marks.  Twenty of those marks are now all-time Top 10 performances in school history.  We also have four athletes qualified for the NCAA Regional Championships in five events.  

As the weather continues to improve we will be looking forward to even greater improvements. We will be at the Drake Relays (100th year celebration of "America's Athletic Classic") and the Robison Invitational hosted by BYU.  Both meets will provide excellent competition and opportunities for our team to continue to improve.

Finding Our Way

While the weather was a little less than what you think of for Arizona, we were still able to put together some great performances.  Light rain, wind, and cool temperatures plagued what is usually track and field paradise at this time of the year.  However, we had athletes in almost every event group compete at a very high level.  Our weekend included another NCAA Regional Qualifier (Chelsea DiGrazia-1500m, 4:26.71) and three other NCAA Regional performances from our three athletes who had already qualified.  

Junior Sarah Grimm had another huge PR in the hammer throw (194-0).  Chelsea Shapard finished second in the 400m hurdles against a field loaded with NCAA championship qualifiers and All Americans.  Her time of 58.88 was the fastest she has ever run at this time of the year. Freshman Langley Iverson cleared 5-7 in the high jump and had two great attempts at 5-8.75 which is the NCAA Regional qualifying mark.  Seniors Lauren Endersen (17:13.50) and Kellie Anderson (17:26.80) both ran lifetime bests in the 5K.  Another senior, Janett Ern ran a personal best mark of 4:40.00 for 1500m.  

I was really impressed with how we competed in most events.  I thought we dealt with the weather and we had several athletes who were fighting illness.  We still have some work to do and a few athletes are not where they want to be.  However, I think between practice and our upcoming meets we still have plenty of time to solve those issues and keep moving forward.  

BYU Invite

Our meet last weekend at BYU  was held in less than desirable competition conditions (40 degrees, light winds, and scattered snow showers), but I thought for the most part our team competed very well.  We had two event champions as well as nine personal best efforts.  More importantly, I was impressed with our mental toughness.  I thought we focused on competing hard rather than worrying about the conditions.  In otherwords,  our team controlled what they could control.  If your going to be great it has to be that way because you never know what the conditions will be like at a championship meet when the stakes are even higher.  

This weekend we go back to Tempe, AZ to compete at the Sun Angel Classic hosted by Arizona State.  Our first trip their this year produced three regional qualifiers. We are hoping to add to that group with more outstanding performances.  The weather looks to be great, and the field of teams will provide great competition in every event.   I'll check back in next week...hopefully with some great news, more regional qualifiers, and a slew of new lifetime bests.  

Have a great week.

The Outdoor Season Opens

Hey everyone!  Sorry it's been a while since I checked in.  It's been crazy around here with the spring weather and transitioning from indoor to outdoor practices.  However, we are off to a great start after our first weekend.  We took a few distance runners to Stanford and the rest of the team went to Arizona State.  

At Stanford we had two lifetime bests, two all-time top ten performance (800 and 10K), and our graduate assistant won her heat of the steeplechase in a new personal best that is only 12 seconds from the US National 'B" standard.  

In Tempe, our true freshman heptathlete, Bree LeRoy qualified for the US Junior National meet in her first ever outdoor multi event competition.  We also had three NCAA regional qualifying performances.  Two of those came in the hammer throw from Josefin Berg (2008 NCAA Championships qualifier) and Sarah Grimm.  NCAA 400 meter hurdle semi finalist, Chelsea Shapard, also qualified in her first race of the year.  Our 4x400 meter relay also ran well.  

The pictures above feature senior Chelsea DiGrazia preparing to race in her 1500 meter heat at Stanford and a full venue shot from Arizona State's evening meet.  

We compete at BYU on Friday in a one day meet.  We hope to have a few more athletes make regional qualifying marks and see our developmental athletes continue to improve.