Jessica Whalen @jlhudginswhalen
Utah Valley’s track & field teams had a solid day at the Boise State Team Challenge in Nampa, Idaho, breaking four school records.
Senior Brooke Hodson-Davies and junior Ivie Gonsalves each broke the UVU record in the 3,000-meter run. Gonsalves finished in first with a time of 9:49.82 with Hodson-Davies right behind her in second place with a time of 9:51.86. In addition to the event, Gonsalves took second in the women’s 1-mile run with a time of 5:12.64.
Sophomore Cole Eisenhour has had a phenomenal indoor season, continuing the streak in Idaho. He mastered the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.13 seconds. He not only was fast enough to win his event, he was also able to shatter the school record by two one-hundredths of a second.
Freshman Ryle Williams also had the opportunity to set a new school record for Utah Valley in the men’s high jump. Williams swept the event by clearing 6’10.75″ (2.10m).
“As a team we accomplished a lot of good things here in Boise, but we also had a couple of injuries pop up.” head coach Scott Houle told members of UVU Athletics. “We’re hopeful, however, that we can get all these kids healed up before heading into conference.”
Just over a month ago in Provo, UVU set six school records, two of which (3000-m and 60-m hurdles) were bettered at the Boise State Challenge.
The men’s track team had a great showing with Brandon Smart placing second, Logan Rusch placing fourth, Josh Monsen placing first, Trevor Sharp placing second, and Jason Lynch placing third in their events.
The women’s team also demonstrated its talent with Autumn Robertson placing second, Corrie Lamoreaux placing third, Samantha Reeves placing third and fourth, Wendy Peterson placing third, Sam Sweet placing third, Aisha Graham placing fourth and Lauren Hicks placing fourth in their events.
Wolverine men’s and women’s track close out their regular season at Weber State, going into the Wildcat Open on Feb. 19 and Feb. 22 in Ogden. They then finish in Moscow, Idaho, competing for the first WAC Indoor Championship Feb. 26-28.
Former Utah Valley track All-American Noelle Pikus-Pace kept the run of success going for the Wolverines when she won a silver medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi for Team USA. She competed in the Skeleton with a combined time of 3:53.86.
The Utah native came into her event Friday Feb. 14 in second place with a combined time of 1:57.33. She secured the medal with her fastest times in the Games, finishing just under a second (0.97) behind gold medalist Lizzy Yarnold from Great Britain.
Along with Pikus-Pace, UVU alumnus Chris Fogt, who also was a part of the Wolverine track & field team, competed in the two-man and four-man bobsled competitions at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
