The Utah track and field team will be fine-tuning this weekend.
Only a week away from the Mountain West Conference Championships, the women’s track and field team is looking to use this Wildcat Tune-Up weekend to get some rest and prepare for the biggest event of the season.
“It’s exactly what the name of the meet is, kind of a tune-up for the conference meet,” said head coach Kyle Kepler. “It’s just a last chance to fine-tune or work on any last minute stuff, typically in the technical stuff.”
Only about half the team will go to Ogden to compete in the meet. Kepler is taking the sprinters, jumpers and throwers so they can get more practice before the championship. The long-distance runners will be taking some time off this weekend so they will be fully energized for next weekend.
“The tune-up is really low key,” Kepler said. “We don’t compete a lot of kids, so it’s mostly a rest weekend.”
Last week they split the team, sending half of the group to the Washington Husky Classic and the other half to Iowa State.
In Iowa, the Utes had a good showing against teams from schools across the nation. Janett Ern finished only one-tenth of a second behind first place in the mile run with a time of 5 minutes, 6.54 seconds. Freshman Lucy Yates ran an impressive 800 meter race and her time of 2:10.44 ranks her third on Utah’s all-time indoor track performance.
At the Washington Husky Classic, Chelsea Shapard also made the all-time indoor performance list with her 800 meter race. She now ranks second. Sarah Grimm made a new personal best and finished second in the weight throw with 57 feet 5.5 inches. Her teammate Josefin Berg also participated in the weight throw and had her season-best throw with 55 feet 2 inches.
“Combined, I was really pleased with how we did,” Kepler said. “I thought we definitely saw the most forward progress from one week to the next a week ago.”
The Tune-Up and the meets last weekend should help to bring some energy into the final stretch of the indoor season.
“(Last weekend) certainly gives us some momentum heading into the championship part of our season,” Kepler said.
