Track & Field take 2nd and 3rd in WAC Championships

Kenzie Jones, Sports Editor

UVU’s men’s and women’s track teams take 2nd and 3rd place in their inaugural WAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships. This was a big feat for the athletes when compared to 3rd and 5th placements at the end of the indoor season and after being projected to take 3rd across the board. The men finished  with 158, two points ahead of Grand Canyon, while the women finished with 128 points being out paced by GCU, and Idaho taking home both titles.

Junior Michael McPherson led the Wolverines as he was named the Male Outstanding Field Performer and the High Point Winner by earning a total of 3o points. He also broke one of the three school records reclaimed at this meet in the decathlon on Thursday by winning the event with 7401 points.

Freshman Lauren Hicks broke an other school record for the Wolverines as she placed third in the triple jump with an outstanding leap of 12.03m or 39′-o5.75″.

The UVU men secured their second-place team finish in one of the final events as the Wolverines’ 4×400 meeter relay earned third. The relay team of Kyler Sprague, Jacob Peterson, Trac Norris, and Mike Keith set a new school record with a dazzling time of 3:12.75

Some other note worthy performances are: women’s heptathlon sweep by Ashli Schulz, Ali Shields, Jessica Lingwall, and Mindy Stapel taking 1st-4th; high jump 3rd by Autumn Robertson and 1st by Scott Moake; long jump 2nd by Michael McPherson; 3000 meter steeplechase 1st by Trac Norris and 3rd by Chris Dorton; 100 meter hurdles 2nd by Ali Shields and 3rd by Jessica Lingwall; 800 meter run 2nds by Aisha Graham and Trac Norris; 400 meter hurdles 2nd by Kyler Sprague; 200 meter dash 3rd by Michael McPherson; 5000 meter run 2nd by Ivie Gonsalves; 10000 meter run 2nd by Ivie Gonsalves and 1st by Jason Lynch.

The regular season is now over and the men and women of the UVU track & field teams sit back and await next week’s NCAA selection to see how many of them have qualified for the NCAA West Preliminaries that will be hosted in Fayetteville, Arkansas on May 29-31. McPherson will also have his fingers crossed in the hope that his decathlon points are good enough to get him straight into the NCAA Championships taking place in Eugene, Oregon on June 11-14.