Utah Valley will look to defend its outdoor track and field titles as the Wolverines compete at the WAC Championships this weekend at Maverick Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

UVU was picked to finish first in each of the pre-championship coaches' polls, followed by Tarleton State and UT Arlington in both. The Wolverine women are looking to make it a three-peat in outdoor, while the Wolverine men are looking to make it three-straight titles overall after winning the indoor title this season and last season's outdoor crown.

The evening sessions each day will be streamed live on ESPN+. Live results will be posted on Athletic.net. 

CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW
Utah Valley enters champ week with a significant edge in distance events across the board based on this season's top times, led by Morgan Nokes with league-leading times in both the 5k and 10k. Nokes' times rank 15th nationally in the 10k and 24th in the 5k. Utah Valley's women's 10k squad reached as high as No. 7 in D-I this season in the USTFCCCA event squad rankings, with Reagan Doman, Ari Trimble, and Mazee Southward contributing to that ranking.

In the men's and women's steeplechase, the Wolverines have depth with two top-four times on each side. Caren Kipsirat's school-record time of 10:15.28 leads the conference entering the WAC Championships and is 25th in the West. 

In the men's 1500-meter, Utah Valley owns the top three times in the league this season, led by Sila Kiplagat's school-record time of 3:40.74. Alex Hartshorn and Jayden Fitzgarrald round out the top three.

Utah Valley's men's 4x100 squad will look to defend their WAC title and return to regionals after last season's second team All-America finish. Returnees Kade Thompson and Gavin Stafford, along with newcomers Collin Petersen and Garrett Nelson, currently hold a league-best top time of 39.54, but are on the outside looking in at regional qualification at 29th in the West. 

Thompson and Stafford will look to lead the Wolverine sprinters this week. Thompson holds the No. 3 time in the 100-meter and No. 2 time in the 200-meter, while Stafford's countable times rank one spot behind Thompson in each.

In the throws, Grace Degarimore enters the championships with a pair of WAC-leading marks in the shot put and the discus. Degarimore's top distance of 15.83m in the shot put is second in school history and trails only Helena Engman at 16.16m, the program's longest-standing record in any event, set back in 1999. Degarimore's top throw of 49.81m in the discus is also second all-time, trailing only Maryn Pincock's record of 50.12m set in 2013.

Nick Forsyth will look to medal in the javelin for the fourth straight season and qualify for regionals for the third time in his career. Forsyth enters champ week with the second-best throw in the conference this season at 64.32m, and will look to lock down his spot at regionals, entering the week 41st in the West.

Aubrey Tasker will look to repeat as WAC champion in the high jump after claiming the crown at the indoor championships. Tasker's top outdoor mark of 1.70m is tied for the league lead entering the week. Emily Conlin also lays claim to the top pole vault mark during the outdoor season at 3.85m.

RETURNING CHAMPS
Utah Valley has a trio of individual champions looking to defend last year's crowns this week in Arlington. Ella Hopper (400m), Cameron Jacobs (3kS), and Grace Williams (pole vault) all won golds last season at Maverick Stadium. Williams has won each of the last two WAC titles in the pole vault, taking gold earlier this year at the WAC Indoor Championships in Spokane. 

RECLAIMING THE THRONE
2024 WAC Champion Olivia Pixton will look to return to the top in her first outdoor season after returning from her 18-month Church mission to Washington, D.C. in December. Pixton took gold in the long jump at the 2024 championships, and also held a school record in the triple jump until Maddie Passmore surpassed her earlier this season.

UP NEXT
Utah Valley will head to the NCAA West Regionals in Fayetteville, Ark., on May 27-30. A full list of qualifiers will be made available next week. All four days of action will be streamed live on ESPN+.