After upperclassmen led the charge in the season opener at BYU two weekends ago, it was the newcomers’ turn to shine at the Snake River Open in Pocatello, Idaho.
Freshman Alissa Atisme had two second-place finishes, and fellow classmates Christine Van Brocklin and Courtney Jost each had a third place result. The rest of the Utes struggled to place in the top three in each of their respective events. The Snake River Open featured four of the same schools that were at the event in Provo.
“I thought our young kids did well,” said Utah head coach Kyle Kepler. “A lot of times with the young kids, you worry about consistency.”
Atisme’s top finishes came in the 60- and 200-meter races. She didn’t get the best start in the preliminary heat of the 60-meter but had a strong finish to qualify for the finals. In that race, she got off to a much better start and finished with a time of 7.88.
“I felt like I got a better push off the blocks,” she said. “It still wasn’t good, but I was able to get a [personal record] and took second.”
The 200-meter race also came with some difficulty for Atisme. The track the teams were running on was a 200-meter wooden track with banked turns. Atisme started the trial race slow because she is used to running on a full-size track. After adjusting to it, she qualified for the finals, where she took second.
“The next 200- track I run on, it will be better, because now I have a feel for it,” Atisme said.
Van Brocklin ran in the 60-meter hurdles, and after making it to finals was able to snag a third place finish with a time of 9.10. Jost took her third place in the long jump with a distance of 16 feet and 11 inches.
Giving younger athletes an opportunity to shine at early-season events happened by design. Kepler brings newcomers to events early in their career that don’t feature top level competition in order to give them confidence for when they compete against better competition.
“You can start to kind of see them, for lack of a better term, with that little moxie or swagger,” Kepler said. “I don’t think they are going to go Richard Sherman on anybody, though.”
Besides Atisme and Van Brocklin, two other Utes had particularly notable outings. Suzie Vozarova took ninth in the 60-meter hurdles, 12th in the long jump and eighth in shot put. Jameela Hayes finished fifth in the 60-meter dash and eighth in the 200 meters.
Utah will compete next at the Cherry and Silver Invitational in Albuquerque, N.M. on Friday. This event will bring a much higher level of competition for the Utes, with over 1,000 athletes attending. New Mexico will also host the national championships this year.
[email protected]