Utah Track and Field Sprints to New Records
University of Utah sophomore distance runner Emma Christensen (7) led the Utes in the Women’s 3000 meter run in an NCAA Track and Field meet at the McCarthey Family Track and Field Complex in Salt Lake City, UT on Saturday April 13, 2019.(Photo by Curtis Lin | Daily Utah Chronicle)
February 1, 2020
The University of Utah track and field team continued their amazing season with terrific performances at the Texas Tech and UW Invitationals over the weekend. Multiple competitors posted new record times and helped the Utes to maintain the momentum that they’ve been gathering all season.
Things got off to a hot start at Texas Tech, with senior Kolbi Sims tying a school record best pentathlon, a record set in 2007.
“Outstanding effort for the first multi event of the season,” said head coach Kyle Kepler to Utah Athletics. “That’s a great start knowing that there are still events to work on and more points to go get.”
Sims topped her previous personal record by more than 200 points and finished in the Top 10 of every event, tying the school record.
Overall, the track and field team posted several personal records, and in the 4×400 they took second all-time. The team made up of Lauren O’Banion, Skyler Blair, Oneillia Fuller and Jackie Martin took ninth overall with a time of 3:44.29, almost beating the record set in 2014.
The Utes were also seeing success at the UW Invite in Seattle, with Whitney Hessler setting a new personal record with a mile time of 4:55.00.
Emma Christensen also recorded a new personal record in the 5k with a time of 17:56.57.
“In the 600m they were able to record a couple of all-time Top 10 times and I’m really excited for those gals. We know we have a great middle-distance crew and they ran really well. I also thought the 400m crew ran well, especially Jasie [York] competing in a really good field,” Kepler said to Utah Athletics.
The final event at the UW Invite was the DMR, where the Utes took third place in a loaded field. This squad consisted of Sarah Newton, Caitlin Faust, Brooke Manson and Sarah Feeny.
The Utes will be competing next at the Don Kirby Invite in New Mexico, the UW Husky Classic and the Weber State Invite in Ogden from Feb. 13-15. The Utes have been competing at an extraordinarily high level as of late, perhaps the best ever. They hope to continue this trend moving forward and compete at higher and higher levels as the season progresses.
