OREM, Utah — Utah Valley University had two more WAC individual titles on Friday and both the men and women sit in first place entering the final day of the 2024 WAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Hal Wing Track & Field.
Adam Bunker won the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase and
Olivia Pixton took gold in the women's long jump to give the Wolverines four titles over the first two days. UVU's women have 82 points with Grand Canyon in second with 65 points. UVU's men sit at 45 points while GCU is second with 38 and Southern Utah just behind the Lopes with 36.
Bunker entered the final lap in third place and took the lead with 200 meters to go, holding off runners from Southern Utah and Stephen F. Austin to win with a time of 8:56.26.
Joel Mendez (9:14.18) came in fourth while
Landon Hart landed in sixth (9:29.34).
Bunker, an All-American in the event in 2022 as a freshman, is the fourth WAC Champion for the UVU men in the steeplechase and the first since
Adrian Jones went back-to-back in 2018 and 2019.
Pixton became the first Utah Valley female to win the WAC Outdoor Championship in the long jump, doing so with her final jump to win with a mark of 5.93 meters.
Kelsi Oldroyd, who won her second straight javelin title on Thursday, finished third with her top jump of 5.82 meters. Pixton's finish also moved her into second all-time behind Oldroyd's school record.
Cameron Franklin set a new school record and qualified for the men's 400-meter final, finishing in 47.19 seconds. He'll also compete in the 200-meter final alongside
Caleb Furnell, who will also run the 100 final and be joined by
Kade Thompson.
In the 800, Liz Zwahlen qualified for the final for the women while the men will have three competing for a WAC title on Saturday in
Isaiah Archer,
Jason Hoffman, and
Pierce Vittone. Vittone's adjusted time of 1:51.46 improved his No. 5 mark in the record book while Archer enters the 800 top 10 at No. 8.
In the women's 100-meter hurdle prelims, the Wolverines had three advance to Saturday's final.
Quincy Bonds,
Paige Young and
Kali McEuen all qualified with Young's 13.87 time improving on her No. 3 mark in the top. McEuen, who will also compete alongside Young and Becky Lower in Saturday's 400-meter hurdles final, finished in 14 seconds flat to improve on her No. 5 time.
Larissa Dabb will run in the women's 400-meter final after setting a personal record of 54.94 seconds to improve on No. 3 all-time.
Kylie Hadfield also cracked the top 10 in the 400, finishing in 56.60 seconds.
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Oakley Olson came in second in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase, coming in behind CBU's Great Karinauskaite, who holds the fourth-best time in the nation this season.
Emily Morden came in fourth and, improving on her No. 7 mark in the top 10 with an adjusted time of 10:44.89.
Kelsi Lindley also picked up a team point with an eighth-place finish, giving UVU 14 points in the event.
In the men's shot put,
Luis Diaz Bojorquez and
Andrew Smith finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Saturday's final day of competition begins at 9 a.m. with the women's discus. The track portion of the day kicks off at 1 p.m. with the 4x100 relays.
