Chelsea Shapard is ranked ninth in the country in the 400-meter hurdles.

Utes to Host Utah Twilight Track Meet

May 5, 2008

SALT LAKE CITY - With the spring academic semester finished, the Utes will use the week to host the Utah Twilight at the Talley Stevens Outdoor Track Complex (East High School), Wednesday, May 7. The hammer throw begins at 1:00 pm to lead the field events, with the running events starting at 4:30 pm.

The meet is a prelude to the Mountain West Conference Outdoor Championships, held May 14-17 at TCU.

Last Time Out: Chelsea Shapard broke the school record in the 400-meter hurdles while Alyssa Abbott ran an NCAA regional qualifying time to lead the Utes at the Arkansas Twilight on Friday, May 2.

Shapard won the hurdle event with a time of 58.07, easily outpacing her other competitors. She broke her own school record of 58.47 which was set back May 12, 2007. Her time ranks ninth in the nation, including second in the MWC and second in the West region. Shapard is the defending MWC Champion in this event.

Abbott, who had already regionally qualified in the 1,500 meters, ran a time of 2:09.68 in the 800 meters for a fourth-place run.

Five earned first-place finishes at the Best Buy Open, hosted by Weber State on Saturday, May 3.

The Utah throwers highlighted the meet with Chasity Toilolo winning the discus (146'08") and Josefin Berg finishing first in the hammer throw (180'07"). Toilolo was also second in the shot put (43'4.5").

Chelsea DiGrazia and Janett Ern placed 1-2, respectively in the 800 meters. Laryssa Simpson and Aimee Nay also were 1-2 in the pole vault.

Sarah McFee rounded out the winners with a triple-jump mark of 34"8.5". She was also fifth in the long jump (14'9.25").

Chasing Chelsea
Chelsea Shapard, Chelsea DiGrazia and Chelsey Kaplar have all made their mark on the Ute track team this season.

Chelsea Shapard broke her own school record in the 400 meter hurdles at the Arkansas Twilight on May 2. Her time of 58.07 won the event. The previous record of 58.47 was set back May 12, 2007. Her time ranks ninth in the nation, including second in the MWC and second in the West region.

Shapard and Kaplar both run on the 4x400-meter relay team, which has the fourth-best time in the conference (3:46.59). Ashley Patterson, Kaplar, Whitney Wellington and Shapard make up the team.

DiGrazia earned an NCAA regional qualifying time at the Drake Relays, finishing third in the 1,500 meter run with a time of 4:26.39. Her time ranks third in the conference this season and is fourth on the all-time list at Utah.

Inventing the Abbotts
Alyssa Abbott holds two regional qualifying marks for the Utes this season. She leads the conference with a time of 4:25.38 in the 1,500 meters, which was set at the Drake Relays. The mark is also second on the all-time list at Utah. Abbott is third in the conference in the 800-meter run. Her time of 2:09.68 was done at the Arkansas Twilight on May 2.

Batterin' Berg
Josefin Berg placed second in the hammer throw with a toss of 199'04'' at Utah State on April 19, the second-best mark on the all-time Utah list. Her distance is the second-best in the conference this season.

Stunning Shayla
Shayla Houlihan set the school record in the steeplechase with a time of 10:44.31 at the Stanford Invitational in the first week of competition. Her time was an NCAA regional qualifying standard and ranks sixth in the conference this season.

Pitter-Patterson
Ashley Patterson from set a new school record in the 200-meter dash at Utah State on April 19. Patterson won her heat in the process of setting the new record and finished with a time of 24.47. She also holds the eighth-best time in the conference this season in the 400-meters (55.83).

Additional News and Notes:
The Utes has five athletes who have six regional qualifying marks, while two school records have been set this season ... The Utes have also set 15 new all-time top-10 marks during the outdoor season.

Coach Kepler's Two Cents: "We are looking forward to hosting our home meet on Wednesday afternoon. It will serve as our final tune-up prior to the conference championships. We have several athletes who are starting to run their best at the right time of the year. We have a few others who are very close to moving up another level. Hopefully this meet will give them another chance to do that.

"It should be a very good meet. All of the in-state schools will be represented. I expect all the field events and the running events from - 1,500 meters on down - to be very competitive if the weather cooperates."