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Utes Begin Outdoor Season at BYU and Stanford
4/1/2008 12:00 AM | Track & Field
April 1, 2008
SALT LAKE CITY - The Utah track and field team opens the outdoor season this weekend, with most of the athletes competing at the BYU Cougar Invitational on Friday, April 4, with the distance runners traveling to the Stanford Invitational on Friday and Saturday.
"Our women are anxious for the outdoor season to get underway," head coach Kyle Kepler said. "We are starting a week later than usual due to the calendar changing and an extra week between the end of April and our outdoor conference championships. We haven't raced for a month and I know the team is on edge about that. We've had some very good practices in recent weeks, so it will be good to get back on the track and find out where we are and what we need to work on.
"The majority of our team will open up at the BYU Cougar Invitational on Friday. It is a good meet to find out where we are and to help us prepare for more important meets later in April. The distance runners will run at the Stanford Invitational on Friday and Saturday. That meet has a very good tradition of producing large amounts of regional qualifying marks so we hope to take advantage of good competition, slightly better weather, and the lower altitude."
Chasing Chelsea
Chelsea Shapard and Chelsea DiGrazia and have both performed well in their respective events for the Utes this year and both women will look to carry that momentum into the outdoor season. Shapard is the defending Mountain West Conference champion in the 400-meter hurdles. DiGrazia ranks in the top-10 at Utah in the 1,500 meters.
Shapard finished third at the MWC Indoor Championships with a time of 55.42, placing her on the all-conference team. She had the fifth-best time in the 400 meters in the MWC this season. Her time of 55.42 was run at the MWC Indoor Championships. She holds the school record in the event with a 54.83 run in 2007. Shapard also ranked among the top 10 in the conference in the 800 meters with a time of 2:12.54, run at Iowa State. She ranks among the top-three all-time at Utah in the indoor 200 and 800 meters.
Digrazia's best indoor time of 4:53.85 in the mile, which she ran at the Iowa State Classic, was the fifth-best time this season in the MWC this year. The time broke the 10-year-old school record in the event. She is one of only six women to run under a five minute mile at Utah. Digrazia took fifth in the event at the MWC Indoor Championships.
Digrazia also ranked 12th in the indoor 3,000 meters. Her personal best time of 10:05.95 was run at the Iowa State Classic.
Four Times the Fun
The 4x400 meter relay team had the third-best indoor time in the conference this season, running a 3:47.62 at Iowa State. Ashley Patterson, Chelsey Kaplar, Whitney Wellington and Chelsea Shapard all raced for the Utes. The time also ranks second all-time at Utah.
The team of Wellington, Kaplar, Haley McAllister and Shapard finished third in the event at the MWC Indoor Championships (3:51.03), earning all four athletes all-conference honors.
Utah placed fourth in the distance medley relay at the Indoor Championships. Janett Ern, Jessica Suddaby, Sarah McFee and Shayla Houlihan clocked in at 12:48.49.
Pitter-Patterson
Ashley Patterson was strong in the 400 meters and the triple jump in indoor competition. Her time of 56.13 was sixth in the MWC this year and ranks second in school history, and she finished seventh at the MWC Indoor Championships with a time of 57.87. She also finished in the top 10 in the MWC in the triple jump. Her leap of 38'9.25", which ranked fourth in school history in the event, was done at the Mountain State Games.
Patterson also set the school record in the indoor 200 meters, running a time of 25.18 at Iowa State.
Additional Indoor Notes: Mandie Rowell, a returning NCAA Regional Qualifier in outdoor, came on strong at the end of the indoor season in the pole vault, clearing 12'5.5" at the MWC Indoor Championships to finish seventh. Her clearance was fourth all-time at Utah ... Josefin Berg's best toss of 57'3" in the weight throw was done at the MWC Indoor Championships, placing her fifth. Her toss also ranks seventh all-time at Utah ...Lauren Enderson's personal best of 17.15.27 at Iowa State Classic ranks third all-time at Utah and eighth in the MWC this year. She was sixth in the 5,000 meters at the MWC Indoor Championships ... Enderson also finished seventh in the 3000 meters at the Indoor Championships with a time of 10:33.86 ... others who finished in the top 10 in the conference in their respective events include Shayla Houlihan (9th - 3,000 meters) and Chasity Toilolo (9th - shot put) ... other athletes who scored points at the MWC Indoor Championships include Janett Ern in the 800 meters (8th - 2:19.11) and Sarah Dowland in the shot put (8th - 42'0.75") ... Utah athletes set 20 new all-time top 10 school indoor marks this past year.
Kepler's Thoughts on the Indoor Season: "The indoor conference meet really produced a mixed bag of results. In some events I thought we performed at a high level and looked very good. However, there were other events where our kids just didn't get the job done. I thought we had some women compete at a championship level and others who needed to step it up. The bottom line is that whether or not you have a legitimate opportunity to win the meet as a team or not, you have to compete at a championship level because everyone else at the meet will be. This will be a point of emphasis during the outdoor season. There is only going to be one winner, but everyone has to give a winning effort.
"This team has more talent than it showed in the indoor conference meet. The coaching staff and I have to help them be more confident and believe that those talents are there and that they can compete at a higher level. We need every single athlete to step up their commitment level and their belief that they will have a better outdoor season and compete at a higher level. They have to continue to support each other along the way and push each other get better everyday."
Players Mentioned
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