Women's Track & Field | 4/18/2024 2:00:00 PM

(St. George, Utah - April 18, 2024) - The Trailblazer track and field team returns to action on Saturday making the short trip to Southern Utah for the SUU Coliseum Championships in Cedar City.

Who | Southern Utah Coliseum Championships
When | Saturday, April 20 / 3 p.m.
Where | Eccles Coliseum – Cedar City, Utah
Live Results | Live Results

COMPETING TEAMS

• Southern Utah, Utah Tech, Utah Valley

TRAILBLAZERS SET PAIR OF PROGRAM RECORDS AT UNLV
Utah Tech set a pair of program records in its last time out at the UNLV Rebel Elite meet on April 6.

Leading the charge was a first-place finish from freshman Averie Perriton in the 3000 meters steeplechase. The Cheyenne, Wyo. native set a program record with a time of 11:07.09 cutting off more than 13 seconds off the previous record set by Skyler Storie.

The other program record set came in the 4x400 meter relay with the team of Megan Jenkins, Addi Wyatt, Kelly Denninghoff and Whitney Christiansen taking third clocking a time of 3:49.32 to knock off over two seconds off the previous best mark. 

Other top performances from the meet came from Mackenzie Bradach in the triple jump (2nd), Lexi Larsen in the 1500 (2nd) & 800 meters (5th), Jenkins in the 100 meter hurdles (4th) and Lainee Leavitt in the high jump (5th).

On the men's side, six Trailblazers finished in the top eight in the 1500 meters led by Kyle Neuenschwander in third while Ryan Newton checked in eighth in the 800 meters.

HOWELL SETS 3000 METERS RECORD
Freshman Luke Howell set the men's program 3000 meters last weekend at the Leopard Distance Carnival hosted by LeVerne in California on April 12.

He posted a time of 9:52.97 for the 14th-fastest time in the WAC this season in the event.

TOP 10 MARKS IN WAC
The Trailblazers enter the weekend with seven top 10 marks in the WAC in six different events.

• 100m hurdles - Ashlyn Parish - 5th, 13.89
• 400m hurdles - Megan Jenkins - 5th, 1:01.74; Brittany Kuhn - 9th, 1:04.65
• 4x400m Relay - Jenkins, Addi Wyatt, Kelly Denninghoff, Whitney Christiansen - 6th, 3:49.32
• 4x100m Relay - Parish, Rashawnna Gibson Kooper Dennison, Jesse Fowler - 8th, 46.89
• 3000m Steeplechase - Averie Perriton - 9th, 11:07.09
• 100 meters - Gibson - 10th, 11.80

OUTDOOR SEASON
The Trailblazers close out the regular season next weekend at the BYU Invitational on April 26-27.

The WAC Outdoor Championships are set for May 9-11 hosted by Utah Valley.

Wyatt earned All-WAC honors in the 800 meters after finishing fourth in a program record time of 2:10.76.

TEN PROGRAM RECORDS SET IN THE INDOOR SEASON
The Trailblazers continued to rewrite the record book in the indoor season setting 10 new program records over the course of the season.

New marks were set in the 60 meters (Gibson), 200 meters (Gibson), 300 meters (Sherwood), 400 meters (Christiansen), 500 meters (Ryan Mendez), 1000 meters (Larsen), Mile (Larsen), 60 meter hurdles (Parish), long jump (Mackenzie Bradach) and the distance medley relay team (Skinner, Edwards, Eatough & Larsen).

RETURNERS
Utah Tech brings back 22 returners this season with 10 sophomores and 12 juniors.

Junior Addi Wyatt is back as a mid-distance runner after earning All-WAC honors in the 800 meters in both the indoor and outdoor seasons in 2023.

NEWCOMERS
The Trailblazers welcome 18 newcomers to the team this season with six distance runners, eight sprinters, two sprinters/hurdlers, one hurdler and one jumper/sprinter.

HEAD COACH DERRICK ATKINS
Head coach Derrick Atkins is in his fourth season as the head coach of the track and field team in 2024.

With his guidance, the Trailblazers have achieved significant success setting 16 school records in outdoor events and 12 in indoor events, with 10 of those records being set in the 2023 season alone.

Not only has the team excelled athletically, but they have also excelled academically. They earned 20 Indoor Academic All-Conference honors and 45 Academic All-Conference honors outdoor.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

• SATURDAY
  • Field Events
    • 3:00 PM - Women's High Jump, Men's Pole Vault, Men's Discus, Men's Long Jump
    • 4:00 PM - Women's Long Jump, Women's Discus, Men's High Jump
    • 5:00 PM - Women's Triple Jump, Women's Shot Put, Men's Hammer
    • 6:00 PM - Women's Pole Vault, Women's Hammer, Men's Triple Jump, Men's Shot Put
  • Track Events - rolling schedule
    • 3:00 PM - Men's 2000m Steeplechase
    • Women's 2000m Steeplechase
    • Men's 100m Hurdles
    • Women's 100m Hurdles
    • Men's 4x100m Relay
    • Women's 4x100m Relay
    • Men's 1500m
    • Women's 1500m
    • Men's 100m
    • Women's 100m
    • Men's 400m
    • Women's 400m
    • Men's 800m
    • Women's 800m
    • Men's 400m Hurdles
    • Women's 400m Hurdles
    • Men's 200m
    • Women's 200m
    • Men's 3000m
    • Women's 3000m
    • Men's 4x400m Relay
    • Women's 4x400m Relay