Women's Track & Field | 3/11/2023 4:32:00 PM
Utah Tech successfully hosted the inaugural Utah Tech Invitational despite some rain and other weather hurdles. Head track coach Derrick Atkins expressed his feelings on hosting the meet: "I'm happy that we were able to have our first home meet. The weather cooperated and we were able to get a lot done, everything but the 4X400 (which was canceled due to lightning Saturday afternoon) which was a bit of a bummer. But I still feel happy and blessed to have the opportunity to host our first home meet here at Utah Tech. We can grow from here, hopefully we can have more teams come in the future and make it bigger and bigger."
The Trailblazers saw success beyond just hosting the meet with a number of impressive performances from the athletes. Of the team's performance coach Atkins said, "We had a few highlights, a lot of PRs. Some school records as well. The big highlights would be those records Megan Jenkins in the 400 hurdles, Lexi Larsen in the 800, and Addi Wyatt in the 400. Addi runs the 800 so it will be interesting to see Addi and Lexi line up against each other at our next meet.
Friday Night Lights: Day one of the inaugural Utah Tech Invite was a rainy one. The Blazers fought the elements in two different events on the opening night. The first was in the high jump where Utah Tech had four entries. Leading the way for Utah Tech were senior
Morgan Callens and Freshman
Ashlyn Parish, making her debut in the event. Both athletes cleared 1.55m (4' 11") taking 4th and 6th respectively. In the 5000-meter run, Utah Tech had eight entries. Sophomore
Lexi Larsen led the way in 17:53.17 making her the team's third-fastest performer all time. Junior
Shakayla Morgan and sophomore
Rylee Jacobsen also ran marks under 19 minutes at 18:33.73 and 18:35.85.
Saturday Action: Saturday action opened up with what ended up being the only relay of the day, the 4X100 meter. The Utah Tech team of
Ashlyn Parish,
Alaynah Reed,
Mary Fallon, and
Abigail Yadon ran 47.97 tying the teams' number two all-time mark in the event.Â
Utah Tech's middle and long-distance runners saw action across the 800, 1500, and 3000-meter runs. One of the biggest highlights of the day came in the 800 when sophomore Lexi Larsen ran a team record by over two seconds in 2:16.43 to lead the group of three Utah Tech athletes in the event. Freshman Savannah Eatough ran the team's sixth all-time mark in 2:22.80 In the 1500 the Trailblazers had three more entries led by freshman Mariah Skinner making her career debut in the distance becoming the eighth fastest in school history at 5:06.82. Sophomore Brooklyn Smith was the Blazers lone entry in the 3000-meter run at 11:27.58.
The Sprints saw a team record as well. In the 400 sophomore, Addi Wyatt took second in the meet and ran a program-best 57.54. Sophomore Sadie Edwards also eclipsed the minute mark in 58.58, seventh best in team history. Freshman Alaynah Reed also ran a PR and snuck into the top ten list running 1.00.11. The 100 had three entries with the top finisher being sophomore Rashawnna Gibson running a team number six all-time 12.48. The final sprint event was the 200 with Mary Fallon leading three more Trailblazers in 26.36.Â
The final event group was the hurdlers who also saw a school record fall. Freshman Megan Jenkins ran the best mark the program has ever seen, running 1:03.32 in the one-lap hurdle race for the best mark of the three entries. And finally, the 100 hurdle trio was led by Madelynne Crawford at 14.82 the fourth-best mark in team history. Megan Jenkins put up a solid performance as well in 15.13 good for fifth all-time. Sophomore Emma Lloyd was the third Trailblazer with the seventh-fastest all-time performance for the program at 15.49.
Next Up: The Trailblazers have a few weeks off to lock in on training before their next contest. They will head out on the road for the first time this season at the Vince O'Boyle Track & Field Classic at UC Irvine. The meet will span March 30th through April 1st in Irvine California.Â
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