OREM, Utah – Utah Valley University track & field heads to Spokane, Washington for the 2023 WAC Indoor Track & Field Championships this week. The competition will take place Friday and Saturday at The Podium. The Wolverine men were picked to finish second while the women were tied for fourth in the coaches' pre-championship poll that was released on Tuesday.
The action begins on Friday, Feb. 24 with the pentathlon and heptathlon starting at 9 a.m. PT before a portion of the jumps and throws begin at 11 a.m. PT with the women's pole vault. The afternoon will be the prelims for the sprints and the mile with both the 5,000 and distance medley relay finals closing day one of the competition.
On Saturday morning at 9 a.m. PT, the last three events in the men's heptathlon begin with the 60-meter hurdles. The women's high jump starts at 10 a.m. PT with the triple jump and weight throw to follow. The track finals will begin at 2:30 p.m. PT with the women's mile. The 1600m relays will close out the championships, beginning at approximately 5:40 p.m. PT.
The finals on both days will air live on ESPN+. Friday's broadcast coverage begins at 3 p.m. PT/4 p.m. MT and Saturday's conclusion of the championships airing at 2:30 p.m. PT/3:30 p.m. MT
Five different Wolverines enter the weekend with WAC Championships already part of their resumes including
Everlyn Kemboi, who was the 2022 Track Performer of the Year after winning both the 3,000 and 5,000-meter races.
Aaron Johnson will also be defending his long jump title from 2022, while
Adrian Jones (mile), Aidan Garnett (high jump), and
Isaac Manning (pole vault) were all WAC Champions in 2020.
Kemboi also boasts the top time in the WAC in both the 3k and 5k and has the 25th-best time in the country in the 5,000 after her school-record performance at the Husky Classic.
Mazzie Melaney Preston, who has the next best 5,000 time in the conference, is 46th nationally, while
Madison Flippence has the third-best time in the WAC. For the men,
Austin Hone's mile at the Stacy Dragila Open is the WAC's top mark in that event while
Habtamu Cheney's 3k at the BYU December Invite and his school-record 5k at the Husky Classic are both conference bests. Johnson's long jump gold at the Stacy Dragila also leads the WAC and ranks 36th in the country while
Neal Berkey is second in the WAC and 41st nationally in the heptathlon.
Utah Valley has won 48 events all-time at the indoor championships, with 30 coming from the men's team. The men have also had two Outstanding Track Performers and two Outstanding Field performers while the women's team has had three Outstanding Track Performers since joining the WAC in 2013-14. The Wolverines have one prior team indoor championship, which came in 2015 for the men in Colorado Springs, Colo.
