Five Top-10 Finishes Highlight Aztec Invitational

Saturday, March 24

San Diego, CA

All Day

University of Utah

Aztec Invitational

Five Top-10 Finishes Highlight Aztec Invitational

3/24/2018 10:51 PM | Track & Field

Results

SAN DIEGO – Led by a fourth-place finish in the 800 meters by Grace Englund, the Utah track and field team had five top-10 finishes at the Aztec Invitational on Saturday afternoon.

"It was a strong day two," Utah head coach Kyle Kepler said. "Coach [Chad] Colwell's done a great job with this group in his first year. It's been a solid day and a solid weekend and we look forward to getting back and enjoying the rest of spring break before getting back after it on Monday."

Englund finished fourth in the 800 with a time of 2:10.67, the second-straight week she has run a 2.10 time in the race. In her first track meet since last year's Pac-12 Championships, Sadie Wassum finished eighth with a time of 2:14.42. Whitney Hessler finished 11^th in 2:15.34.

"I thought Sadie performed at a really high level in her first race in 10 and a half months and Whitney was aggressive and led most of her heat. She just got beat out at the end but I thought she did a nice job of being aggressive and learning from her mistakes last race," Kepler said.

Alissa Atisme paced Utah in the 200 with a sixth-place time of 24:04. Jackie Martin moved into ninth all-time at Utah with a time of 25.06 for 19^th place. Raynee Helm Wheelock finished 24^th in a personal-best time of 25.59 while Mesa Weidle was 25^th with a time of 25.84. Atisme also paced Utah in the 100, finishing 14^th in 11.96. Helm Wheelock also ran a personal-best time in the 100 of 12.17 for a 17^th-place finish, moving her into fifth all-time at Utah. Martin moved into eighth all-time at Utah with a 21st-place finish in the 100 12.29. Weidle also ran the 400 in 58.32 for 12^th place.

"It's great to see Alissa run this fast this early, that says a lot about her fitness level. I thought everyone ran particularly well in the 200," Kepler said.

In the 400 hurdles, Rachel Whipple ran a time of 1:03.39 for ninth overall. Madison Lanford won the third heat and finished 16^th in 1:05.08. Ruby Jane Mathewson finished 17^th in 1:05.31 in her first collegiate 400 hurdles. Brooke Martin finished 19^th in 1:06.62. Whipple and Lanford also ran the event yesterday.

"I thought for Rachel to run 63 seconds again was pretty impressive," Kepler said. "Maddie looked good and did a lot of good things although she certainly wanted to run a little faster time, but anytime you win your heat it's a good thing. I thought Ruby Jane did a real nice job in her first 400 hurdle race, she faded a little in the last 100 which is expected for freshman since they only run the 300 hurdles in high school. I thought those guys looked really good."

Eliza Hansen finished ninth in the high jump with a mark of 5'3 ¼" (1.61m). Regan Crofts finished 12^th in the javelin with a best throw of 87'1" (26.55m).

"Eliza looked as good as she has in three years," Kepler said. "She had some good looks at the height she missed and there is definitely more there."

Utah has competitors at three different meets next week: the Stanford Invitational, San Francisco State Invitational and Utah Valley Invitational.