The Utah women’s track and field team took to sunny San Diego last weekend for the Aztec Invitational. In a large event that saw 20 schools from all across the nation, Utah had some standouts and put other teams on notice.
Fifth-year senior Ali Eisenbeiss took home the 800-meter dash title with a scorching time of 2:07.58, making her mark on the event.
“I had my quickest time running outdoors at the invitational,” Eisenbeiss said. “I posted my quickest time in the 4×400-meter relay. One of my goals is to score at the Pac-12 championships and make the Regional finals. With the times I’ve posted, I should be able to do that.”
The event also saw Utah’s Grace Englund finish fourth in the 800, just three seconds behind her teammate.
Head coach Kyle Kepler had some high praise for his team after the solid performance over the weekend.
“I think we accomplished what we set out to do,” Kepler said. “We are improving each day and getting closer to where we want to be. It is definitely a work in progress, when you look at some of the other great teams we go against in the Pac-12, but I think we are making strides and doing a lot of positive things. We’re much further along now than we were at the start of the season.”
Eisenbeiss wasn’t the only star on display for the Utes, as several of her teammates represented well in their respective events. Junior Alissa Atisme put up two solid performances in the 100- and 200-meter dash events, finishing 10th and 16th, respectively. In the 400 meter hurdles, Christine Van Brocklin took fourth place while just narrowly missing out on her lifetime best, finishing at 1:00.63. Running with her in the same event was sophomore Madison Lanford, who took eighth while posting an impressive time of 1:03.64.
When asked about the leaders on his team, Kepler didn’t hesitate with his response.
“We have a lot of great seniors who lead us — Ali Eisenbeiss, Andrea Chavez, Nikki Rietz. Each one of them brings so many things to our team,” Kepler said. “They just go out and compete hard. The rest of the team really looks up to them.”
The final event of the day saw yet another strong performance from the Utes. The 4×400 meter relay was ran by Van Brocklin, freshman Caitie Faust, senior Allison Aafedt and Eisenbeiss. The Utes showed that they were a force to be reckoned with, taking second overall in the event with a time of 3:48.56.
“Overall, it was a good weekend for us,” Kepler said. “We did what we wanted to do. I can see each of our athletes learning from their mistakes and getting better. We are in a great position to finish our season and have a strong showing at the Pac-12 Championships.”
The next event for the Utes is the Stanford Invitational this weekend in Palo Alto, Calif.