Wolverine track & field maintained its historic momentum in the UVU Collegiate as junior Michael McPherson and freshman Lauren Hicks set new school records.
McPherson’s 400-meter dash time of 47.59 seconds was good enough to best the former UVU record, despite it being his first time running the race as a Wolverine. He won his event, while Hicks’s triple jump 11.88m landed her in second and set a new UVU and personal record.
“Both Lauren and Mike had a couple of standout performances by breaking school records for us again,” head coach Scott Houle said. “And overall, I was pleased with how everyone competed as we had good marks and times in every event.”
Houle’s team added to the strong performances with junior Ivie Gonsalves taking the 5,000m run, senior Chris Dorton winning the 3,000m steeplechase, freshman Samantha Reeves finishing first in the 100m dash and McPherson capturing the best mark in the long jump.
The Western Athletic Conference took notice of the Wolverines’ stellar outing, naming Gonsalves and Hicks the women’s track & field Athletes of the Week, and tabbed McPherson for one of the two men’s honors for the week of March 24-30.
Gonsalves, Hicks and McPherson each took home the WAC awards for the second time this season.
UVU picked up an additional nine top-three finishes in various events on both the men and women’s sides. In all, the Wolverines achieved 22 top-three showings.
“It was a great meet today,” Houle said. “The weather was awesome, which allowed the kids to be relaxed. It also brought out some great competition, as this meet is traditionally one of the biggest meets in the state of Utah. It’s nice to be here at home and competing in front of our friends and family.”
Utah, BYU, Utah State, Southern Utah, Weber State and Westminster were the other Utah-based schools competing in the meet, and the field was rounded out by Air Force, Idaho State and Colorado Mesa.
Houle and his staff also got a look at prospective future Wolverines when the UVU High School Invitational was held in Orem March 29.
Next up for UVU is the Utah Spring Classic April 11 in Salt Lake City, one day prior to the Weber State Innovation Invite in Ogden. The team then travels to California for four days worth of events, and will compete in the Mark Faldmo Invitational in logan April 19.
UVU returns to Utah for the BYU Robison Invitational in Provo April 23-26, and wraps up the regular season in Ogden at Weber State Twilight May 7.
In their first season in the WAC, the Wolverines will host the conference championships May 14-17 at the Hal Wing Track and Field.
