ARLINGTON, Texas — Emily Conlin and Morgan Nokes earned golds, Kate Carter, Eddie Garcia, and Porter Whitworth took silvers, and Reagan Doman claimed a bronze to lead Utah Valley on day one of the WAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Maverick Stadium.
Utah Valley also saw 12 athletes qualify for Saturday's finals in their respective events, led by seven of the eight Wolverines competing across the men's and women's 1500-meter advancing. Through two events on the men's side and four on the women's, Utah Valley is in the lead with 21 and 49 points respectively after claiming a medal in all but one event thus far.
Conlin kicked off the day winning the first final of the championships, posting a new personal best of 4.00 meters that ranks second all-time. Conlin had a shot at breaking the school record after officially clinching the title, but came up just short.
Nokes earned her fifth individual WAC championship of the 2025-26 season, after claiming the cross country and indoor mile, 3k, and 5k titles earlier this season. Nokes ran a 34:06.21 in blustery conditions, falling just eight seconds short of former UVU All-American Everlyn Kemboi's meet record of 33:58.39 set in 2022. Doman took third with a time of 35:05.62, earning her third medal of the season after taking silver in the mile and bronze in the 3k at the indoor championships.
Whitworth almost did the unthinkable, nearly erasing what was a 10-second gap with three laps to go, but ran out of time before ultimately finishing second by one second. Whitworth's fastest laps were his last two, running 1:09.94 and 57.93 over the final 800. Whitworth's final lap was also the only under a minute across the entire race.
Eddie Garcia surged to a new personal best in the hammer, improving by nearly two meters to 59.62 to take second. Garcia concludes his collegiate career in the event ranking third all-time.
Carter continued her steady improvement over the course of her freshman campaign to reach 44.71 meters in the javelin. Carter took silver and now ranks fifth all-time in the event, improving by about seven meters from her debut at Utah Tech in March to now.
Gavin Stafford continued his torrid stretch of late, running 20.50 in the 200-meter qualifying race, the top overall time of the day and the second-best time in program history. Stafford's time is also 31st nationally in all conditions this season.
Matthew Maclennan showed out in the 400-meter hurdle qualifiers, posting a new personal best of 53.31 to take fourth overall and qualify for Saturday's final. The time also ranks ninth in program history.
Cole Johnson and Joey Trageser sit in second and third at the midway point of the decathlon, which will wrap up Friday. Neal Berkey false started in the 100-meter dash, but has otherwise kept pace with his fellow Wolverines, leading the trio in three of the other four events. Johnson posted the top mark in the shot put, with a season-best 13.89m.
Utah Valley will continue competition tomorrow beginning at 8 a.m. MT with the final events of the decathlon and heptathlon. Live results will be posted at the link above, and all running events from 3 p.m. MT on will be streamed on ESPN+.
MEDALS
Emily Conlin - Gold, Pole Vault
Morgan Nokes - Gold, 10,000m
Kate Carter - Silver, Javelin
Eddie Garcia - Silver, Hammer
Porter Whitworth - Silver, 10,000m
SATURDAY QUALIFIERS
Ella Hopper - 59.53 400mH
Makaylie Roberds - 1:02.16 400mH
Gavin Stafford - 20.50 200m
Kade Thompson - 20.88 200m
Matthew Maclennan - 53.31 400mH
Alex Hartshorn - 3:52.97 1500m
Jayden Fitzgarrald - 3:53.04 1500m
Sila Kiplagat - 3:55.47 1500m
Cayden Tupper - 3:56.15 1500m
Caren Kipsirat - 4:35.04 1500m
Artana Nice - 4:40.06 1500m
Elisabeth Ferrell - 4:42.30 1500m
