In this first edition of the performers of the week column, we present to you the top performers across Wolverine athletics. This week’s top performers were the women’s cross country team, the women’s soccer team and UVU All-American wrestler Taylor LaMont. Honorable mentions include the men’s cross country team, who placed second at the WAC Cross Country Championship, and Caden Weber, who placed fourth at the Hoakalei Invitational. Weber was also named WAC men’s golfer of the week.
This past week, the Wolverine women’s cross country team had one of their best performances of the year, winning the WAC Cross Country Championship. Top performers for the Wolverines include freshman Cailia Odekirk, who came in at third with a time of 20:12.5, junior transfer Everlyn Kemboi, who came in right behind in fourth at 20:18.0 and junior Melaney Preston, who came in sixth with a time of 20:29.0. The Wolverines came into the conference championship race as underdogs behind a very fast Cal Baptist squad and were able to come out on top by a margin of seven points.
Along with the women’s cross country team, the women’s soccer team had an impressive eight All-WAC honorees this season. Among the first team All-WAC members were defender Jenna Shepherd, forward Amber Tripp, forward Sadie Brockbank and midfielder Heather Stainbrook. Defender Sydney Bushman and forward Julianna Carter were both named to the All-WAC second team and midfielders Breanna Eves and Nicole Ray were named to the Freshman All-Wac team. Reves was also honored as the WAC Freshman of the Year. The Wolverine women’s soccer team has a record of 13-7-2 and dominated Sam Houston 6-1 as well as defeated SFA 1-0 before falling to GCU 0-3 in the WAC Championship match.
UVU redshirt junior wrestler Taylor LaMont represented team USA at the 23-and-Under World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia. LaMont managed to make it to the bronze medal match after opening with back to back wins in the tournament before losing in the semi-final round to Iran’s Poya Dad Marz. LaMont ultimately lost in the bronze medal match but claimed fifth place in the tournament and made his country and UVU proud by representing them at the world championships. LaMont was named an All-American and Big 12 runner-up in the 2021 season and has lofty expectations heading into the upcoming season.
