Utah Track and Field Ready for MPSF Championships

Friday, February 23

Seattle, WA

All Day

University of Utah

MPSF Championship

Utah Track and Field Ready for MPSF Championships

2/21/2018 11:07 AM | Track & Field

2018 MPSF Championships Event Schedule

Grayson Murphy gets back on the track.

SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah indoor track and field team prepares as they head back up to Seattle for the third time this year to compete at the MPSF Championships. The two-day meet will take place this Friday and Saturday, Feb. 23-24, and will be held at the Dempsey Indoor Track facility.

"We'll be taking a small group but a mighty group up to MPSF's and put them in that championship environment and experience," Utah head coach Kyle Kepler said. "It should be a great meet as it always is, but again our focus will be on our self and try to perform as well as we can whether it's winning a heat or placing higher than we go in ranked."

The events that the Utes will be competing in this weekend are the 4x400 relay, distance medley relay, 5,000-meter, 3,000-meter, one mile, 800-meter, 200-meter, and the 60-meter dash.

Highlighting the weekend for the Utes will be senior Grayson Murphy who will be competing in the 3,000-meter event. Murphy will be making her first appearance on the indoor track since her last outing at the Boston University Season Opener back in December. At the BU Season Opener, Murphy competed in the 5,000-meter event where she captured a fifth-place finish, topped her own school record and recorded a new personal best by nine seconds. Murphy currently ranks second in the MPSF and 10th nationally in the 5,000-meter event.

Also competing in the 3,000-meter race will be sophomore Poppy Tank, senior Jessica Sams, senior Louise Mercer, freshman Bella Williams, and sophomore Trina Moreno. In this event, Murphy, Tank, and Sams all rank in the top-10 all-time for Utah.

Mercer will also be competing in the 5,000-meter race for the Utes. At the Husky Classic, Mercer recorded a new lifetime best, topping her previous record by 30 seconds, and moved her into fourth all-time at Utah in this event. Mercer currently ranks 16th in this event in the MPSF.

Highlighting the 800-meter race will be junior Caitlin Faust and sophomore Sarah Newton. Last time out, both Faust and Newton recorded new personal bests and moved into the top-10 all-time at Utah in this event. Faust currently ranks 13 in this event in the MPSF. Sophomore Melissa Taggart will also be competing for the Utes and last time out she also set a new personal record topping her previous best by five seconds.

In the 4x400 relay, senior Alissa Atisme, senior Grace Englund, Faust, freshman Jackie Martin, sophomore Brooke Martin, and Newton will make up the squad for the Utes. Last time out, this team crossed the line with a time of 3:47.03 and now ranks them eighth in the MPSF.

For the 4,000-meter DMR, the Utes will run Faust, Englund, Atisme, senior Hannah McInturff, Tank, Newton, and Martin. At the Husky Classic, this squad recorded a time of 11:41.53 and now ranks them seventh in the MPSF.

McInturff will also be competing in the one-mile event where she ranks fifth all-time at Utah.

Competing in the 200-meter race for the Utes will be Jackie Martin and senior Raynee Helm Wheelock. At the Husky Classic, Martin recorded a new indoor lifetime best which placed her 10th all-time at Utah.

Wheelock will also be competing in the 60-meter dash with Atisme. Wheelock and Atisme are both on the Utah all-time top-10 list with Atisme ranking first and Wheelock in sixth place.

"This meet is great for us, we can just focus on some individual performances and continue to help kids improve and get better," Utah head coach Kyle Kepler explained. "It's still a premier championship like meet with all of the Pac-12 schools represented along with several schools along the west coast."

Live results can be found via https://static.gohuskies.com/custompages/trackresults/022318/index.htm

Click below to listen to Kepler give a preview of this week's meet at the MPSF Championships.