Plourde Captures 1500m Championship Title with Record Breaking Run

Sunday, May 14

Walnut, CA

All Day

University of Utah

Pac-12 Championships

Photo Credit: Tariq Speights

Plourde Captures 1500m Championship Title with Record Breaking Run

5/14/2023 6:33 PM | Track & Field

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Simone Plourde gave Utah track & field just its second Pac-12 individual event champion on Sunday after capturing the 1500m title.

WALNUT, Calif. – The Utah track & field team had its best showing at the Pac-12 Championships to date this weekend after closing out the three-day meet at Hilmer Lodge Stadium with 45 total points, its highest point total since joining the league in 2011-12 by 22 points.

The 45 points saw the Women of Utah finish ninth-overall in the team standings, which was also the highest finish ever in the Pac-12 era.

"First, congrats to Amy and softball," head coach Kyle Kepler post meet. "Such a great season and exciting comeback to win the title. Secondly. What. A. Meet! Highest points and highest finish, two champions, two school records, a meet record and a group of women who competed their hearts and guts out for every point. Truly inspiring performances."

Simone Plourde gave Utah its biggest highlight of the day when she led a stacked field wire-to-wire in the 1500m run to capture Utah's second individual title ever with a meet record-breaking time of 4:09.48. Plourde's run broke Shelby Houlihan's previous record of 4:11.06 set back in 2015 and was a new PR for the junior – which also improved her hold in the Utah records book.

WATCH | ???????????? ?????????????? breaks the #Pac12TF 1500m record and her own Utah record with a run of 4?:0?9?.4?8? to give the Women of Utah its 2nd individual @pac12 Champion in program history??#GoUtes | #UtahTFXC pic.twitter.com/VF6cpB7eeT
— Utah T&F/XC (@Utah_trackfield) May 14, 2023

"I felt like it could be a pretty good day based on the first two days," Kepler said. "Then the 4x1 went out and won their heat and grabbed fourth-overall to start the day. Bella ran a great race to grab fourth in her final Pac-12 meet and Harley scoring as a freshman was terrific. The 4x4 grabbing points on tired legs was a great way to close out the meet. Dinedye broke a school record that had stood for awhile but we know she can go a lot faster when she runs a cleaner race. Finally, Simone ran a very brave race to claim the 1500m title with a meet record and school record time against one of the deepest fields ever at the Pac-12 meet. To lead wire-to-wire against that field was truly remarkable."

WATCH | Simone Plourde chats with the @Pac12Network crew after capturing just the 2nd #Pac12TF individual event title in program history??#GoUtes | #UtahTFXC pic.twitter.com/arF275YMwg
— Utah T&F/XC (@Utah_trackfield) May 14, 2023

The 4x100m relay team got Championship Sunday started on the right foot for Utah after the quartet of Dinedye Denis, Emily Martin, Maya LeBar and Josefine Eriksen teamed up to win their section with a school-record breaking time of 44.71. LeBar's exchange heading into the final leg allowed Eriksen to use her strength to just out-lean the runner from Washington State to get fourth-overall.

Freshman Harley Daniel ran with some of the nation's top hurdlers on Sunday and was able to secure a point for Utah in the team standings after she posted a run of 14.19 in the 100m hurdles event. Eriksen, who anchored the 4x100m relay team, was just short of scoring for the Utes and ran a 53.61 in the 400m dash.

Denis then tacked on six more points for the Women of Utah after she crossed the finish line with a school-recording breaking run of 57.66 in the 400m hurdles.

?????????????? ?????????? secures a podium finish after running a school record time of 5?7?.6?6? in the 400m hurdles at #Pac12TF Championships??#GoUtes | #UtahTFXC pic.twitter.com/udKwnffG4y
— Utah T&F/XC (@Utah_trackfield) May 14, 2023

Over in the triple jump, Shana Van Elderen picked up her top mark of the day in her third and final attempt with a distance of 12.25m (40-2.25) - which wasn't enough to move her onto the finals.

Bella Williams gave the Utes five more points after she crossed the finish line at 16:23.51 for fourth-overall and first amongst a handful of Utes. Ellie Lundgreen was the next Ute to cross at 17:20.86 for 23rd-overall while Ariel Keklak got the last spot in the top-25 with a mark of 17:24.14. Freshman Kylie Hartnett was just behind Keklak with a time of 17:25.77 with Maddie Reed bringing up the rear for Utah at 17:59.44.

The 4x400m relay team wrapped up the weekend with a sixth-place finish to add three points to Utah's team total after posting a mark of 3:39.02.

"I'm very proud of this group for the way they've come together," Kepler said at the end. "I'm proud of my staff for all of the hard work and heavy lifting they do to coach and support these women the way they do. We'll see how the NCAA qualifying marks shake out in the next few days, but we expect to be represented in several events by a large group of women."

The Women of Utah will now have just over a week to recover and get ready for the NCAA West Preliminaries, which will take place at Hornet Stadium on the campus of Sacramento State May 25 & 27.

For the latest news and information on the Utah cross country and track & field programs, fans can stay connected online at www.UtahUtes.com and on social media by following on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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