Personal bests: Utah Tech women’s track and field program continues to grow

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ST. GEORGE — The Trailblazers gather around Derrick Atkins. He’s eager to talk to them. And they’re eager to hear what he has to say.

Utah Tech head coach Derrick Atkins reviews times with Utah Tech athletes who competed in the 1,600-meter relay at the Utah Tech Track and Field Invitational at Great Zion Stadium in St. George, Utah, March 23, 2024 | Photo by Vin Cappiello, St. George News

Amid the several hundred athletes who competed Friday and Saturday in the Utah Tech Invitational track and field meet at Greater Zion Stadium, the sea of red and blue was palpable. It was bigger than it was last year and certainly bigger than it was when the women’s program started four years ago.

“The meet is growing and we had great performances,” said Atkins following the second annual invitational that attracted women’s and men’s teams from Southern Utah, Weber State University, Utah Valley University and Westminster College. “Collectively as a team, we’re getting better each year, each meet, each season. We had a great indoor season and we’re looking forward to the outdoor season.”

Team unity and growth were evident throughout the two-day meet and especially in the minutes leading up to the climax of the event — the 4×400-meter relay. At last year’s inaugural invitational, hail and heavy rain forced the cancellation of this popular culminating relay.

Atkins requires all athletes to run a leg of this race — usually reserved for the four best 400 runners on the team — one time early in the season. And Saturday, three teams of four took their turn successfully negotiating the oval.

“Ya gotta run one,” Atkins tells his athletes. “Is it gonna be this weekend or are we gonna negotiate for next weekend?”

Sophomore Ashlyn Parris, a sprint and hurdle specialist who ran on the 4×400 relays, acknowledged the coaching move but also emphasized what she and the Trailblazer squad are learning from Atkins: “We had to do it for the team.”

The open 400 was the third-to-last event of the two-day meet, and those who competed in it had little time to recover — one heat each of the men’s and women’s 3,000-meter-run — before lining up for the 4×4.

Utah Tech’s Sadie Edwards bursts out of the starting blocks to run the leadoff leg of the 1,600-meter relay at the Utah Tech Track and Field Invitational at Great Zion Stadium in St. George, Utah, March 23, 2024 | Photo by Vin Cappiello, St. George News

It’s a painful race. One lap. As fast as you can. Lactic acid building in the forearms. Quads and lungs burning. If you’ve run it right, quarter-milers say, your head should be pounding afterward, and more than likely, your sick stomach has you hovering over one of the many garbage cans strategically placed near the finish line.

“You just pump your arms as hard as you can and try to get to the line, ” junior sprinter Rashawnna Gibson said.

“You have to make that ugly face,” added junior Camilla Hamilton, also a sprinter.

Normally, Trailblazer 400 record-holder and junior Addi Wyatt would have competed, but Atkins said a virus hit the team this week, forcing several to sit out the first meet of the spring season.

Picking up the slack, however, were freshman Whitney Christiansen (57.93), sophomore Megan Jenkins (57.97) and junior Sadie Edwards (59.84), who placed fourth, fifth and eighth, respectively.

A different brand of 400 kicked off Saturday’s running events: the 4×100-meter relay. The Utah Tech quartet of Parish and Gibson, along with freshmen Kooper Dennison (Desert Hills graduate) and Jesse Fowler, won the event and got the baton around the track in 46.89 seconds, second-best in program history. They assessed their performance as follows:

Parish: “My start wasn’t that great … our handoff went really good, it was smooth.”

Gibson: “My leg went great. I tried to get us a lead.”

Dennison: “Mine and Rashawnna’s exchange was a little wobbly but we got it off, and then mine and Jesse’s was good.”

Fowler: “I could feel (the second- and third-place teams) behind me, but that made me push a little faster.”

Parish set a new program record mark in the 100-meter hurdles as the sophomore came in third, clocking a time of 13.92.

Utah Tech distance runner and Hurricane High School alum Nya Black competes in the 3,000-meter run at the Utah Tech Track and Field Invitational at Great Zion Stadium in St. George, Utah, March 23, 2024 | Photo by Vin Cappiello, St. George News

The wind was gusting into the runners’ faces on the main straightaway for much of the day. For the women’s and men’s 100-meter dash and high hurdle events, however, meet organizers reversed the running direction, and competitors enjoyed a substantial tailwind.

“It was (an issue) and it always will be in Southern Utah because of our location,” Atkins said of the wind. “With track and field being an outdoor sport, you have to battle the elements, and that’s the fun part about it.”

While a southwest breeze blew consistently before noon, it picked up considerably for the last two hours of the meet.

“We ran into the wind both ways,” said Edwards, who competed in the open 400 and the 4×400 relay.

Davis’ 100-meter dash time was good enough for a program best, but because it was wind-aided, her 11.80 clocking is a personal best only.

Utah Tech freshman Kaydance Sherwood set the tone for the meet on Friday, establishing a program record of 24.81 in the 200-meter dash to finish third. Jenkins also set a school record in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:01.74 to place fifth.

The Trailblazer men’s distance squad also had a notable weekend, with freshman Ryan Newton setting a pair of program records in the 1,500 (3:52.56) and 3,000 (8:50.15).

Next up for the Utah Tech women is the Vince O’Boyle Track and Field Class in Irvine, California, March 29-30.

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2024, all rights reserved.

Vin Cappiello has been involved in journalism in various capacities since age 16, when his first story was published in the Rockland County Journal-News in suburban New York CIty. He has worked at newspapers in Ohio, Idaho and Wyoming and now serves as evening editor of St. George News. Vin and his wife Lisa have three grown children: Gabriella, Sara and Maggie. Vin and Maggie are 3rd-degree and Lisa is a 2nd-degree black belt in taekwondo. Vin also is the author of the young adult novel, “A Quarter Mile From Home.” He enjoys hiking, camping, fly-fishing and running, preferably with Lisa.

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