Briefs
Utah Valley breaks two more school records
Utah Valley University’s men’s and women’s track & field teams performed well after a two week layoff, breaking two more school records Saturday at the Boise State Team Invitational.
Allah Laryea-Akrong had another stellar day with the Wolverines when he broke his own school record in the men’s 200m dash as well as being UVU’s top finisher in both the 60 and 200m dashes. Laryea-Akrong won the 200 with a blazing time of 21.50 (school record) and tied Utah State’s Mike Pyrtle for second place in the 60 (6.83).
The second new school record came in the men’s 4x400m relay when UVU’s “A” team of Andrew Graham, Justin Tungate, Allah Laryea-Akrong and Mike Keith broke it, placing second overall in the event and finishing with the time of 3:17.18.
UVU freshman distance runner Trac Norris also had a huge day. He won the men’s 1-mile run with a time of 4:14.03 and was also UVU’s top finisher in the 800m run as the third place finisher(1:52.91). Spencer Evensen led the way in the men’s 3000m run and came in fourth with a time of 8:44.71.
Four Wolverines named in second NCAA Coaches’ Panel rankings
As announced by the NCAA, Utah Valley has four wrestlers while the Western Wrestling Conference has 22 wrestlers named in the second of three coaches’ panel rankings and the first Rating Percentage Index (RPI) for the 2009-10 wrestling season.
UVU’s Benjamin Kjar (125) leads the four Wolverines and is ranked eleventh in the coaches’ panel and twelfth in the RPI. Flint Ray (133) comes in at No. 31 and No. 26 respectively while Justin Morrill (149) is No. 29 in RPI and Brad Darrington (174) is ranked 31st and 20th.
The weight classes for the fourth-year league appear to be fairly balanced with three wrestlers apiece listed at 125, 133, 141 and 174 pounds.
The final rankings and RPI will be two of the tools used as part of the selection process to determine the qualifiers for the 2010 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships.