Completed Event: Track & Field versus NCAA Championships on June 12, 2025 ,
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Track & Field
vs NCAA Championships
Saturday, March 1
Colorado Springs, Colo.
All Day
University of Utah
vs
MWC Championship
Track and Field Takes Seventh at MWC Indoor Championships
3/1/2008 12:00 AM | Track & Field
March 1, 2008
USAFA, Colo. - The University of Utah track and field team went into the last event of the Mountain West Conference Indoor Championships tied for seventh, and the 4x440 yard relay team came up big as the Utes rallied for a hard-fought seventh-place finish.
"I'm proud of the way the team fought this weekend," said head coach Kyle Kepler. "It's not where we wanted to finish, but I think the women represented the University of Utah very well. We're a young team, and we showed that. We have a ways to go. Now, our charge is to come home, get healthy, and get ready for the outdoor season."
Lauren Endersen set the table for the dramatic finish in the 3000m. She passed four runners in last few hundred meters to take seventh in 10:33.86. Her effort gave Utah enough points to tie UNLV for seventh.
The last event of the meet was the 4x440 yard relay, and it was a two-heat race. UNLV won the first heat, but Utah's team of Whitney Wellington, Chelsey Kaplar, Haley McAllister and Chelsea Shapard turned in a time of 3:51.25 (third) in the second heat. That was good enough to edge UNLV for seventh place.
The relay team was in fifth with 50m to go, and it looked like Utah was going to drop into eighth place. But Shapard passed two competitors in the last 20m, and she leaned into the finish line for the third-place finish.
In the wake of the strong finish, Utah saw five of its athletes land on the all-conference team. With the top-three finishers in each event earning All-MWC honors, Shapard and the entire 4x440 relay team are all honored.
Utah finished the event with 36 points. TCU won the meet on 129 points and it was followed by Colorado State (121.5 points), BYU (112), San Diego State (94), Wyoming (64) and New Mexico (51.5). Trailing Utah were UNLV (33) and Air Force (22).
Equaling the effort of the 4x440 yard relay team was Shapard in the 400m run. She too recorded a third-place finish in 55.42.
"Chelsea (Shapard) ran her fastest time of the year in the 400m," notes Kepler. "But, she just raced two other runners who ran a little bit better than she did. Ashley Patterson did a nice job in the 400m too. Her heal got clipped in the race, and she almost lost her balance. But, she remained focused and finished seventh. It turned out her points would become crucial to our finish."
Patterson took seventh in the 400m race, checking in with a time of 57.87.
Chelsea DiGrazia tallied a fifth-place finish in the mile run, posting a time of 5:09.11.
"Chelsea (DiGrazia) ran a hard race, and she got a solid fifth," remarked Kepler. "I'm not disappointed in her effort at all."
Utah also saw a pair of eighth-place finishes as Janett Ern and Sarah Dowland competed in the 800m and shot put, respectively. Ern took eighth in tallying a time of 2:19.11, while Dowland's toss of 42-3/4 was also good enough for eighth.
"I was happy with both Janett in the 800m and Sarah in the shot put," said Kepler. "Those two turned in eighth-place performances but they out-performed their seeding and got us some points that nobody necessarily thought we were going to have."
Chastity Toilolo was less than an inch away from also scoring in the shot put. Her 42-0 effort left her just out of scoring range, taking ninth in the event.
Players Mentioned
Hurdles/Sprints
/ Track & Field
Sprints
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