Track and Field Finish Fifth in MWC Championships

Saturday, May 16

Laramie, Wyo.

TBA

University of Utah

MWC Championships

Track and Field Finish Fifth in MWC Championships

5/16/2009 12:00 AM | Track & Field

May 16, 2009

Stats

Laramie, Wyo. - The University of Utah track and field team wrapped up competition at the 2009 Mountain West Conference Championships on Saturday at the Louis S. Madrid Track Complex. The Utes earned a total of 76 points to finish fifth in the league, improving from last year's sixth-place finish (58 points). On the last day of the competition, Utah saw two event champions and four top-five finishes.

"I am excited about our performance today. Our kids laid it on the line and this is the most points our team has set at the conference championships," said head coach Kyle Kepler. "They fought and battled for every point. It was great to see a freshman win the high jump. Everywhere we look we had great efforts. We got about 20 more points than I expected; it is hard to put into words how proud I am of these kids. Lauren Endersen battled back to take seventh. I am proud of our staff and kids. We've come quite a ways in four years."

Freshman Langley Iverson came through for the Utes in the high jump, clearing 5' 8.75" for first place a new personal record and a new regional qualifying mark. Senior Mandi Witherspoon cleared 5' 5.00" for eighth-place.

Chelsea Shapard had another great day on the track in the 400-meter hurdles event, finishing in first-place and improving her personal record and regional qualifying time to 57.88. This is her third straight conference championship title in the event. Chelsey Kaplar came in seventh-place in the event with a time of 1:02.23.

Shapard and Kaplar joined with Whitney Wellington and Ashley Patterson in the 4x400-meter relay to break another school record and finish with a regional qualifying time. The Ute relay team placed third overall with a time of 3:38.96. Each member of the relay team had outstanding splits: Shapard (53.8), Kaplar (55.0), Wellington (55.1), and Patterson (53.7). The previous best time in Utah school history was 3:41.60, which was set on May 5, 2009 at the Utah Twilight by Shapard, Wellington, Patterson, and Kaplar.

The 4x100-meter relay team comprised of Haley McAllister-Birkeland, Wellington, Shapard, and Patterson finished in fifth-place overall with a time of 46.39.

Chelsea DiGrazia, Janett Ern and Lauren Endersen competed in the distance events for the Utes on Saturday. DiGrazia competed in the 1500-meter run for a sixth-place finish after crossing the line in 4:39.53. Ern improved her personal record by four seconds in the 1500-meter run with a time of 4:46.86. Endersen ran the 5000-meter event with a time of 18:26.38 to earn seventh-place overall.

In the javelin, sophomore Breanna Freestone threw for a personal record of 135' 10" to earn seventh-place in the conference championships. Her mark is a 14 ft. improvement from her previous personal best.

COMING UP
The University of Utah track and field team will be competing in the 2009 NCAA West Regional Championships in Eugene, Ore., on May 28-30. The Utes will be sending ten athletes in six different events to the regional meet, including McAllister-Birkeland as a relay alternate. The athletes and events are as follows:

Hammer
Sarah Grimm
Josefin Berg

Pole Vault
Klaudia Rokossa

High Jump
Langley Iverson

400-meter hurdles
Shapard
Kaplar

1500-meter run
DiGrazia

4x400-meter relay
Shapard, Kaplar, Wellington, Patterson