ST. GEORGE — The indoor track and field season is underway for the Utah Tech women, and they didn’t take long to establish notable marks.
The Trailblazers competed in eight different events at the BYU Cougar Collegiate Indoor Invitational Friday-Saturday at the George Albert Smith Fieldhouse in Provo.
Utah Tech opened its weekend with one field event on Friday, highlighted by a ninth-place finish and a mark of 5 feet, 1 3/4 inches by Kylie Bishop in the high jump. Bishop’s clearance is the best in the program’s indoor history.
Additionally, Lainee Leavitt, a Snow Canyon High School alum, cleared 4-11 3/4, second-best in the program’s indoor history.
“The team was much improved from last year,” Head Coach Derrick Atkins said on the UT Athletics website. “It was good to get out there and we saw a lot of progress. We had a number of lifetime bests.”
The Trailblazers closed out the multi-day completion with seven running events on Saturday, posting five top-10 results and three top-fives.
Ashlyn Parish tallied the highest UT finish of the meet, crossing the line in eighth place with a time of 8.93 in the 60-meter hurdles, also a program best.
The Trailblazers found more success in the 200-meter dash. Mary Fallon took 14th overall with a time of 26.45, which is the third-best time in program history. Additionally, Alaynah Read ran 26.57 and Ashlynn Gilhula 26.89 which were also top 10 marks in program history.
In the open 400, Megan Jenkins was ninth in 1:01.51, second-best in program history. Additionally, Sadie Edwards (1:02.04), Camilla Hamilton (1:02.58) and Madelynne Crawford 1:02.58 for three top-10 marks in program history.
Five Trailblazers competed in the mile race, led by Mariah Skinner with a 5:33.12 time, third in UT history. She was followed by Addi Wyatt in 5:37.49 and Alexia Corona at 5:47.24, also top 10 times in program history.
In the 3,000, UT was led by Lexi Larsen with a 10:56.85 time, the fourth best in program history. Following her was Dixie High School alum Kirstin Williams (10:59.93) and Shakayla Morgan (11:00.28), which was good for fifth and sixth in program history.
“Up next we have NAU, which should be pretty big,” Atkins said of the Northern Arizona Lumberjack Team Challenge Friday, Jan. 20. “Hopefully the team can stay healthy and continue to progress next week.”