Utah Valley University’s men’s track and field athletes concluded their season on May 29 at the regional meet in Fayetteville, Arkansas, with six athletes competing across the 4×100-meter relay, 1500-meter run, and steeplechase events.
The Wolverines’ 4×100-meter relay team—Garrett Nelson, Caidan Cooper, Kade Thompson, and Gavin Stafford—recorded a new program top-10 time of 39.81 seconds. This performance ranks as the eighth-fastest all-time for Utah Valley and secured a 19th-place finish. All ten of the program’s fastest times in this event have been set within the last three seasons, with nine coming in just the past two years.
Sila Kiplagat ended his freshman campaign by finishing 22nd overall in the 1500-meter run with a time of 3:49.28, placing him eleventh in his heat. Kiplagat was recently recognized as both Western Athletic Conference Athlete and Freshman of the Year. He is also noted as the first male athlete from Utah Valley to sweep Freshman of the Year honors across cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track.
Cameron Jacobs placed tenth in his heat and twenty-second overall during his first appearance at regionals in the steeplechase event. Jacobs finished with a time of 8:49.92—just over a second behind his personal best set earlier this season at Stanford—and previously won last year’s WAC Championship title while finishing runner-up this year.
Looking ahead to Saturday’s final day of regionals, Utah Valley will be represented by three women’s athletes: Grace Degarimore (discus), Caren Kipsirat (steeplechase), and Morgan Nokes (5,000 meters). The two running events will be streamed live on ESPN+.
