FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Sila Kiplagat broke his own school record in the 1500-meter to advance to Friday's quarterfinals at the NCAA West Regionals at John McDonnell Field.

Kiplagat placed second in his heat and fifth overall with a time of 3:40.03 to advance to Friday's quarterfinals and move one step closer to Eugene. Kiplagat will need a top five finish in his heat or have one of the two best remaining times when he runs again at 4:15 p.m. MT on Friday.

Alex Hartshorn finished 37th overall and 10th in his heat in the 1500-meter with a time of 3:46.04, improving by one place from his finish a season ago in the same event. Hartshorn started out fast and held the lead at the midway point of the race, but was unable to maintain that pace down the home stretch.

Gavin Stafford and Kade Thompson finished 25th and 31st respectively in the first round of the 100-meter dash at 10.27 and 10.35. Stafford fell just .005 below the cutoff point to advance, losing out to Sam Houston's Xzamion Parker.  Thompson took sixth in his heat in the 200-meter with a time of 21.21, taking 38th overall.

Stafford and Thompson will compete one more time in Fayetteville this week as part of the 4x100 squad with Caidan Cooper and Garrett Nelson. That race is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. MT on Friday and will be broadcast on ESPN+. 

Nick Forsyth finished off the night placing sixth in his flight in the javelin with a mark of 61.17m. Forsyth finishes his Utah Valley career as the program's first-ever men's thrower to qualify for regionals three different times and the third overall, joining fellow javeliners Kelsi Oldroyd and McKell Camp Nielson.

Utah Valley's women's athletes will begin competition tomorrow starting with Grace Degarimore in the shot put at 6 p.m. MT. Ella Hopper will follow in the 400-meter hurdles at 7:20, then Morgan Nokes, Reagan Doman, and Ari Trimble will wrap up the night in the 10,000-meter at 8:10. The running events will be broadcast live on ESPN+.