Strong Kick Down the Stretch Gives Plourde Fourth-Place Finish at NCAA Indoor Championships

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Simone Plourde of Utah track & field competes in the 3000m race of the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships at the Albuquerque Convention Center in Albuquerque, NM on Saturday, March 11, 2023. Andrés Leighton/Utah Athletics

Photo by: Andrés Leighton

Strong Kick Down the Stretch Gives Plourde Fourth-Place Finish at NCAA Indoor Championships

3/11/2023 8:03 PM | Track & Field

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Utah track & field’s Simone Plourde uses strong kick down the stretch to earn fourth-place at the NCAA Indoor Championships.

ALBUQUERQUE – Utah track & field's Simone Plourde saved her best for the final lap in the 3000m race, passing several runners to finish fourth-overall at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships with a mark of 9:00.93 (aa) Saturday evening inside the Albuquerque Convention Center.

"It's been a work in progress training for the last two years at Utah," Plourde said afterwards. "Being patient and gradually increasing my mileage has paid off and its been so rewarding to see it come to fruition this season! Stoked for outdoors and what's to come!"

Plourde's fourth-place finish passes teammate Emily Venters and Amanda Mergaert (2012-13, Mile) for the program's best finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Meanwhile, Plourde also becomes the fifth Woman of Utah to earn All-American honors for indoors.

"Terrific effort!" exclaimed head coach Kyle Kepler said. "She ran smart and stayed out of trouble. That allowed her to use her big finishing kick to go from eighth to fourth on the final lap. A very impressive effort."

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The Montreal, Canada, native kept pace in the middle of the pack through the first 1000m before things dropping back a little in the top-eight. Plourde continued to hang tough with the front group through the next 1000m before buying her time to make her kick in the final 200m.

"A heck of a way to finish what is likely the best indoor season in school history," Kepler noted. "A 21st-place team finish at the NCAA meet along with two First-Team All-Americans is pretty special. I can't say we didn't get a little inspiration this morning from the ski team. What an awesome day to be a Ute. Congrats to Fredrik and his staff on winning another NCAA title."

Utah's nine points at the NCAA Indoor Championships behind fourth and fifth-place finishes from Plourde and Venters is the most in program history and highest among teams from the state of Utah at the championships meet. It also picked up its first Top-25 finish ever at the championships – finishing 21st on the women's side.

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Down in St. George, the rest of the squad had a great start to the outdoor season picking up a handful of event victories – including Shana Van Elderen winning her second-straight event title in as many days. The freshman's fourth jump of the day landed her the victory with a leap of 11.92m (39-1.25) and saw herself move into fourth all-time for the Utes.

In the 400m dash, Chloe Shewell was the lone Ute running in the event and posted a time of 58.70 in her first collegiate outdoor event. Kelise Davis had Utah's best finish in the 100m dash with a PR tying run of 12.32 while Megan Rose (12.35) and Maya LeBar (12.40) came in ninth and 10th. Malia Overton closed out the race for Utah at 12.50.

Utah nearly swept the podium in the 800m race with Lauren Peterson winning the event with a 2:13.56 her first time racing in it. Meanwhile, Jasie York secured the second-place finish with a mark of 2:14.89 to grab second-place while Maren Busath checked in at 2:22.86 for a new PR.

Over in the 200m final, Overton (25.75) and Shewell (25.87) grabbed the two final spots to earn top-10 finishes checking in at ninth and 10th, respectively.

Dee Denis saw her streak of breaking school records come to an end of Saturday, but still ran the third-fastest time in program history after clocking in at 58.12 in the 400m hurdles. Freshman Harley Daniel took second-overall for the Utes after recording a time of 59.31 – which moved her into sixth all-time at Utah. Rachel Whipple nearly missed out on the podium finish after posting a fourth-place finish of 1:02.67 with Ally Gomm finishing shortly behind her at 1:03.05 for sixth.

Utah's distance crew was responsible for four of the top-five finishes led by Kylie Hartnett's victory in the 3000m (10:03.80) – which put her seventh on the all-time list at Utah. Claire Rusovick followed in second with a PR time of 10:10.49 to see her crack the top-10 at No. 9 while Maddie Reed and Ellie Lundgreen checked in at 10:13.48 and 10:17.02, respectively.

Utah's 4x100m crew of Kelise Davis, Maya LeBar, Megan Rose and Malia Overton registered a time of 46.82 to take third before lightning canceled the rest of the meet.

For the latest news and information on the Utah cross country and track & field programs, fans can stay connected online at www.UtahUtes.com and on social media by following on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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