Utah Valley closes out the indoor regular season this weekend sending athletes to the Mountain State Games in Pocatello, Idaho, and the Husky Classic in Seattle, Wash.
Both days of the Mountain State Games will be streamed live on ESPN+, with live results posted on live.athletic.net. Friday's action will kick off with the multi events at 10 a.m. MT, followed by the remaining track and field events at 3. Saturday's events will commence at 10 a.m. MT. A full rundown of the schedule can be found at the link above.
Utah Valley's distance runners will represent the Wolverines at the Husky Classic. Caren Kipsirat, Reagan Doman, Ari Trimble and Morgan Nokes will run in the women's 5k. On the men's side, Jayden Fitzgarrald, Alex Hartshorn, and Sila Kiplagat will run the mile, while Wyatt Mortenson and Porter Whitworth will run the 5k.
LAST TIME OUT
Utah Valley sent a small contingent of about a dozen Wolverines to the Wolf Pack Classic in Reno, Nevada last weekend where Ella Hopper broke her own school record in the 400m. Hopper chopped about .2 seconds off her previous time with a new best of 54.03. Hopper also set a new PR in the 200m that ranks second all-time.
Gavin Stafford debuted in the top 10 at No. 8 with a time of 21.45. Kade Thompson posted a season-best of 21.14 in the same event. Porter Westerlind tied for the top mark in the pole vault with a season-best 5.10m. Eddie Garcia took second overall in the weight throw at 16.86m, while Trevor Hill took second in the shot put with a mark of 16.33m.
The last time Utah Valley competed at Idaho State back on Jan. 13-14, the Wolverines had a very successful weekend, posting 17 top-10 marks, 12 of which ranked in the top five all-time. Four of those top-five marks came in the 3k, with Nokes, Kipsirat, and Doman claiming two through four on the women's side and Hartshorn taking No. 4 on the men's side.
Nokes and Hartshorn will look to improve their standing on the NCAA Indoor qualifying lists as they head into the home stretch of the season. Entering the week, Nokes ranks 36th nationally in the 5k, while Hartshorn checks in at 35th in the mile. Both runners have already had historic seasons, with Nokes breaking the WAC record in the 5k and Hartshorn running the first two sub-four miles in indoor program history. The top 16 athletes in each non-relay event will qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships.
