The Trailblazers head on the road for the first time in the 2023 outdoor season to compete in the Vince O'Boyle Track & Field Classic at UC Irvine. All events will take place on Saturday with the Blazers first scheduled event at 11:45 AM (PST) with the final event scheduled for 3:05 PM (PST).

This is just the second running of the Vince O'Boyle Track & Field Classic, though UC Irvine has been hosting meets for several decades. Utah Tech cross country competed at UC Irvine back in the 2010 and 2011 seasons but this will be the first time the Trailblazers track program has competed in Irvine CA.

The Blazers have entries across eight individual running events, two relays, and one field event with a total of 26 women competing across all events.

ACTION ON THE TRACK AND IN THE FIELD: Starting with the sprints group the Trailblazers will enter a full contingent. Four Trailblazers are set to run the 100-meter dash. Ashlynn Gilhula comes in with the top seed time of 12.22 (run in non-legal wind conditions) and Rashawnna Gibson entered with the quickest time this season of 12.49 run at the Utah Tech Invitational. The biggest entry list among sprinting events will be the 200-meter where the Trailblazers plan to send seven women to the line. Ashlynn Gilhula again comes in with the quickest mark at 25.92 run last indoor season. In the first outdoor meet of the season, it was Mary Fallon who led the way with a 26.36, she will also be among the Blazers entries in the event. And finally, in the 400 the Trailblazers enter two athletes including Kelly Denninghoff who was just six thousandths of a second off the team's indoor 400 record with a time of 59.77 at the WAC Indoor Championships. 

In the longer-distance events, the Blazers have entries in the 800, 1500, and 5000-meter runs. Leading the group of four 800 runners will be Addi Wyatt making her outdoor season debut in the event. Indoors she ran a team record (for indoor or outdoor) of 2:14.18 at the WAC Championships. Lexi Larsen will be the Trailblazers lone entry in the 1500 coming off her last meet where she set the team's outdoor record in the 800-meter distance. In the longest race of the day, the Trailblazers have seven entries. The 5000 group is headed up by Shakayla Morgan with a seed time of 18:19.36 run during the indoor season.

Over barriers, the Trailblazers have two strong groups in the 100 and 400 hurdles. The 100 field features five athletes including Ashlyn Parish who comes in with a 14.43 seed time in her only collegiate attempt at the event to lead the entries. The 400 hurdles promise to be an exciting event for the Trailblazers with Megan Jenkins having broken the team record at Utah Tech's season opener with a 1:03.32 mark. 

The meet will open with the 4X100 relay where the Trailblazers have entered the team of Mary Fallon, Ashlyn Parish, Abigail Yadon, and Rashawnna Gibson. As always the meet will close with the 4x400 relay. With the event being rained out at the Utah Tech Invitational this will be the Blazers first running of the relay since breaking the team indoor record at the WAC championships back in February. The Blazers have three teams entered with the "A squad" designation going to the team of Sadie Edwards, Addi Wyatt, Megan Jenkins, and Kelly Denninghoff.

NEXT UP: After the trip to California the Trailblazers will return to competition in the state of Utah next week at the University of Utah Spring Classic on April 7th & 8th in Salt Lake City.