ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Utah Valley had three more WAC Champions on Tuesday at the conference's indoor track & field championships at the Albuquerque Convention Center.
Neal Berkey won the heptathlon,
Gabriel Remy brought home the 60-meter title, and
Morgan Nokes won her second WAC Championship in as many days with her win in the 3,000.
Nokes' wins continued Utah Valley's dominance of the 3k and 5k. On Monday she was the fourth straight Wolverine to win the 5,000 and on Tuesday she made it three in a row—and six overall—in the 3,000 for the UVU women after last year's meet records in both from
Everlyn Kemboi.
UVU had six of the top 10 finishers in the 3k. Nokes won with a time of 9:52.32 with
Ari Trimble right behind her, coming in at 9:52.84.
Caila Odekirk was fourth and
Oakley Olson came in eighth as four Wolverines scored in the event.
Eliese Hohmann and
Abby Linford were ninth and 10th, respectively. Trimble altitude-adjusted time (9:38.24) is good enough for No. 5 while Odekirk's time of 9:41.17 is No. 6 in the school's top 10.
Berkey is the first Wolverine to win gold in the WAC heptathlon since All-American Michael McPherson won it in 2015 while Remy is UVU's first 60-meter conference champion since All-American Nicholas Taylor won it in 2014. Remy won the 60 in 6.69 seconds, which matches him for the No. 2 spot in the school's top 10.
Berkey entered the day in third in the heptathlon and, after finishing seventh in the 60-meter hurdles, won the pole vault (4.80m) to help propel him to the gold finish. Berkey scored 5,370 points, finished first in the high jump and pole vault, and was second in the long jump.
"Morgan's a great competitor. When she gets to the last mile of a race it's hard to beat her. She has great endurance and really good foot speed but she's also incredibly competitive. The mental part of the race she doesn't have any fear," said UVU head coach
Scott Houle. "For Gabe to win the 60 as a freshman is impressive. He's going to keep getting better and better too. And Neal has always had success but has battled some injuries but he's healthy and worked really hard and is competing at a good level."
As a team, the Wolverine women finished third behind champion Grand Canyon and UT Arlington. The Utah Valley men landed in fifth, with Southern Utah winning the championship.
The Wolverines also set or matched four school records on Tuesday.
Madison Farrer matched her shared high jump mark of 1.71 meters for the second straight day while both 4x400 squads set program records.
The quartet of
Dallin Anderson,
Cameron Franklin,
Brayden Walker, and
Isaiah Archer finished fifth in the 4x400 and set a school record in the process, finishing in 3:13.83.
Kali McEuen,
Ella Hopper,
Larissa Dabb, and
Sarah Ballard also set a school record (3:45.48) and also came in fifth.
Abdulsalam Farah finished fifth in the men's mile with a time of 4:10.73. His altitude-adjusted time of 4:05.27 is also a new school record.
Pierce Vittone (4:12.94) and
Gilbert Olivas (4:14.52) also scored points, finishing in seventh and eighth, respectively. Vittone's adjusted time (4:12.94) puts him in the No. 4 spot in the top 10.
In the men's 3,000,
Gio Ramirez placed sixth (8:30.66) with an adjusted time of 8:18.09 that slots him at seventh in the top 10. Olivas took seventh (8:31.26) and Farah was eighth (8:31.79) to also score team points for Utah Valley. Olivas' adjusted time (8:18.67) puts him at 10th in the 3k top 10.
The women had four individuals score points in the mile. Odekirk made a late charge over her final 50 meters to take second place with a time of 4:55.37. Olson (4:56.13) was fourth,
Emily Morden (5:01.71) landed in fifth, and
Elizabeth Zwahlen (5:02.11) finished seventh. Olson's altitude-adjusted time of 4:49.68 is good enough for No. 4 all-time.
Other Wolverines with notable point-scoring finishes include
Aiden Garnett's third-place finish in the high jump with his best mark of 2.05 meters on Tuesday.
Kade Thompson, who moved into No. 2 in the 200 on Monday, finished eighth in the 60 with a time of 6.92 seconds.
Andrew Smith took eighth in the shot put, with his best throw of 15.26 meters.
Austin Kleinman set a PR in the shot put (14.83m) that put him at No. 10 at UVU.
Olivia Pixton was eighth in the triple jump with a personal record that improved on her No. 2 mark in the school's top 10.
"We finished about where we were supposed to finish but we did better in some areas than expected. We look to this as a springboard to the outdoor season and the other events and those kids joining the group," said Houle.
Utah Valley is scheduled to begin the outdoor season in San Diego at the Aztec Invitational and in St. George at the Utah Tech Invitational the week of March 21.
