Utah Valley University’s track and field teams will start their Western Athletic Conference (WAC) outdoor title defense on March 18 as they travel to St. George, Utah, for the Utah Tech Invitational at Greater Zion Stadium.
The event is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. Mountain Time with the 5000-meter race, followed by field events starting at 9 a.m. The meet marks the beginning of the outdoor season for both men’s and women’s squads after a successful indoor campaign.
During the recent indoor season, Utah Valley’s men’s team won its first championship in eleven years, while the women’s team finished second. The Wolverines secured nine gold medals at the WAC Indoors, including three from Morgan Nokes in distance events and two from Porter Whitworth. Both athletes were named Outstanding Track Athletes for their performances. Other individual titles came from Aubrey Tasker in high jump, Grace Williams in pole vault, Sila Kiplagat in the mile, and the men’s distance medley relay squad.
Returning this outdoor season are six NCAA qualifiers from last year. Notably, Gavin Stafford and Kade Thompson—both second team All-Americans—were part of last year’s 4×100 relay squad; Thompson also qualified individually in the 100 meters. Alex Hartshorn aims to build on her strong indoor results after qualifying for regionals in the 1500 meters last year and setting program records during winter competition.
Other returning regional qualifiers include pole vaulters Noah Peterson and Porter Westerlind on the men’s side; Peterson seeks his fourth consecutive regional appearance while Westerlind aims for his second. Ella Hopper returns as a regional qualifier for the women after setting a school record in the 400-meter hurdles last season.
Veteran athletes Nick Forsyth and Morgan Nokes are looking to return to NCAA preliminaries after missing out last year—Forsyth in javelin and Nokes following maternity leave last March.
Looking ahead, Utah Valley will host its only home meet of the season—the UVU Collegiate Invitational—on March 26. The event will start at 8 a.m., with free admission and live results available online.
