The University of Utah track and field team competed in the Husky Invitational in Washington and the Don Kirby Elite Invitational in New Mexico this past weekend. 

On the first day of competition at the Husky Invitational, the distance team managed to hit new PRs and school records. Hannah Butler had a PR in the 3000m event where she finished with a time of 9:44.21. Morgan Jensen shaved some time off of her previous time as she PRed with a time of 9:47.07. Karli Branch competed in the event for the first time and finished with a time of 9:49.56. 

Emily Venters ran in the 5000m event where she ran a time of 15:48.02 and took second place of all time in the program’s history. Cara Woolnough ran a new PR of 16:02.84 which is now third best of all time. Venters and Woolnough are looking to get ranked in the top 40 of NCAA individuals in the event. 

In New Mexico, more records and PRs were being broken. For the third week in a row, Josefine Eriksen broke another school record in the 600m event. She ran the event in 1:28.27. This time broke the school record, the Norway indoor record and the facility record. Jasie York competed in the 600m as well and posted a time of 1:33.33 and made the top ten in the school record book. Bailey Kealamakia posted a time of 1:38.45 and sixth overall. Ruby Jane Mathewson won her heat with a time of 1:40.27 and eighth overall. 

Maya LaBar competed in the 200m dash where she posted a time of 24.64 and came in fourth overall. Kelsie Davis posted a time of 24.85 where she came in eighth overall. Taylor Watson ran a time of 26.26 to close out the day. 

The second day of competition was just as successful as the first in both invitationals. In Washington, Racheal Whipple started the day off for the Utes as she ran the 400m dash in 58.78. Simone Plourde found herself in Utah’s record books as she posted a time of 4:38.25 in the mile event. In the 800m event, Brooke Manson posted a time of 2:09.58 to close out the day. 

In New Mexico, Mathewson competed in the 60m hurdles event where she PRed with a time of 8.94. Kealamakia clocked a time of 9.21 in the same event. In the 60m dash qualifying event LaBar posted a time of 7.90 and Watson recorded a time of 8.05. 

The final event of the day was the 4x400m relay team. The team consisted of Lauren O’Banion, Kelise Davis, Jasie York and Josefine Eriksen where they posted a time of 3:43.21 to get second overall and to become Utah’s third-fastest relay time. 

The Utes will compete at the Alex Smith Invitational on Feb. 19 in South Bend at the Loftus Sports Center. 

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@DushEmily