FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Utah Valley will send a school record-matching 15 athletes to the NCAA West Regionals in Fayetteville, Ark., next week, led by three Wolverines in the women's 10,000-meter and the program's first-ever thrower competing in multiple events.
On the men's side, Gavin Stafford, Kade Thompson, Pierce Vittone, Nick Forsyth, Cameron Jacobs, Sila Kiplagat, and Alex Hartshorn will represent the Wolverines individually, with Garrett Nelson and Collin Petersen joining Stafford and Thompson in the 4x100.
On the women's side, Utah Valley will be represented by Morgan Nokes, Reagan Doman, Ari Trimble, Ella Hopper, Caren Kipsirat, and Grace Degarimore.
Stafford, a second-team All-American with the 4x100 squad in 2025, was the WAC champion in the 100-meter dash with a wind-aided time of 10.01 (+5.1). Stafford also posted the second-best overall time in the 200-meter during qualifying, running 20.50. Stafford will be competing in the 100m, his first trip to regionals as an individual.
Thompson, also a member of the All-American 4x1 team a season ago, qualified for regionals in both the 100- and 200-meter after winning silver in the latter at last week's WAC Championships with a time of 20.59. This will be Thompson's third trip to regionals and second while competing in an individual event.
Vittone, the school record-holder in the 800-meter, is headed to his first regional at the Division I level. Vittone was a five-time All-American at the JUCO level with Paradise Valley CC in Arizona, including in the 800-meter, the event he will be competing in.
Nokes, a 2025 All-American in Cross Country and eight-time WAC champion across her two seasons as a Wolverine, is Utah Valley's top-ranked athlete heading to regionals. Nokes enters the meet with the 10th-best time in the West in the 10,000-meter and the 16th-best time in the 5,000-meter. This is Nokes' second time going to regionals after qualifying in both events back in 2024.
Joining Nokes in the 10,000-meter are Reagan Doman and Ari Trimble, both of whom are making their first appearances at regionals. The 10k quartet of Nokes, Doman, Trimble, and Mazee Southward reached as high as No. 7 in the USTFCCCA event squad rankings earlier this season.
Hopper makes her second-straight appearance at regionals in the 400-meter hurdles, where she set a school record of 57.73 last season. Hopper nearly matched that record last week when she won gold at the WAC Championships with a time of 57.79.
Kipsirat qualified for her first regionals in the steeplechase in her debut campaign as a Wolverine. Kipsirat set a school record earlier this season at the Bryan Clay Invitational with a time of 10:15.28, and later went wire-to-wire with a dominant gold-medal win in the event at the WAC Championships.
Degarimore is Utah Valley's first-ever thrower to qualify for regionals in multiple events after finishing the regular season ranking 32nd in the West in both the shot put (15.83m) and discus (52.95m). Degarimore won gold in both events at last week's WAC Championships, securing the discus title with a school record.
Forsyth is Utah Valley's second-ever four-time regional qualifier, joining Trac Norris, who qualified in the steeplechase in 2010 and 2014-16. Forsyth took silver in the javelin at the WAC Championships with a throw of 61.34m and has a season-best mark of 64.32m, set at the Utah Tech Invitational. Forsyth is Utah Valley's school record-holder in the javelin at 65.91, set at the 2024 WAC Championships.
Kiplagat and Hartshorn will run in the 1500-meter, Hartshorn's second time racing the event at the regional level. Kiplagat and Hartshorn own the top two times in program history in the 1500m, with Kiplagat breaking Hartshorn's record earlier this year at Stanford. Kiplagat also won gold in the event last week at the WAC Championships, while Hartshorn took fourth.
Jacobs will make it two Wolverines competing in the steeplechase, joining Kipsirat on the women's side. A historically strong event for Utah Valley, this will be the 11th time since 2010 there will be at least one Wolverine competing in the men's steeplechase at regionals, more than any other event. Jacobs took silver in the event at the WAC Championships, and earlier this season, posted a new personal best of 8:48.90 at Stanford.
Peterson and Nelson will look to make it a repeat trip to Eugene for the men's 4x100 team alongside Stafford and Thompson. The quartet posted a season-best of 39.54 at the Mt. SAC Relays, the No. 6 time in program history. Caidan Cooper and Jonathan Pugmire will also travel with the team as alternates.
Live coverage of all four days of regionals can be found on ESPN+. Live results and the complete schedule of events can be found at the link above.
