SALT LAKE CITY– A quick turnaround for the Utah track and field team as they prepare for their upcoming meet at the Aztec Invitational, March 21-23, in San Diego. Hosted by San Diego State University, the three-day meet will take place at the SDSU Sports Deck with competition set to begin on Thursday at 11:00 a.m. (PST), Friday at 8:30 a.m. (PST) and Saturday at 9:00 a.m. (PST). 
 
"The Aztec Invite is always a huge meet with lots of competition and encompasses many divisions of NCAA track and field," head coach Kyle Kepler said. "It should be an exciting weekend and we've had some good performances there in the past so we are going to look to do the same. It should be some pretty good track weather so we are excited about that and to get outdoors and keep the season rolling and see if we can get some really good early season marks." 
 
Athletes competing for the Utes this weekend include: Skyler Blair, Regan Crofts, Eliza Hansen, Raynee Helm-Wheelock, Whitney Hessler, Brooklyn James, Maya Lebar, Brooke Martin, Jackie Martin, Ruby Jane Mathewson, Lauren O'Banion, Taylor Watson and Mesa Weidle. 
 
Senior transfer Sims will start the weekend for Utah as she has been entered to compete in the women's heptathlon event on Thursday and Friday. In the heptathlon, Sims will compete in the 100-meter hurdles on Thursday at 12:00 p.m. (PST) and on Friday will finish the heptathlon with the long jump, javelin and 800-meter events. This is familiar territory for Sims as she transferred from a former Mountain West Conference school in San Jose State University and finished second overall in the heptathlon at the Mountain West Conference Championships in 2017, scoring a personal best of 5,402 points. 
 
Last time out, the Utes competed at the Trojan Invitational where junior Sarah Newton captured the only event title in the 1,500-meter run. Newton finished the race in a personal-best time of 4:28.45. Utah finished all six runners inside the top-10 of the 1,500-meter race. 
 
Utah showed strong in the 800-meter race as they placed five of the six runners competing in the top-10, finishing in third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh place. Senior Hessler lead the Utes finishing in third place while recording a new personal best time of 2:10.35. Freshman Brooklyn James also earned a new personal-best time while capturing a sixth-place finish. 
 
Sophomore Regan Crofts threw a personal-best distance of 131'5" (40.07m) in the javelin which moved her into 10th place all-time at Utah. Sims also competed in the javelin throwing a life-time best distance of 118'4" (36.06m) to earn a seventh-place finish. Senior Hansen posted a career-best mark in the high jump 5'6" (1.68m) and earned a second-place finish. 
 
Freshman Taylor Watson moved herself into seventh-place all time in the 100-meter dash event by posting a time of 12.23. 
 
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Click below to listen to head coach Kyle Kepler in his weekly Track Chat podcast.