AZUSA, Calif. - In their final regular-season track and field meet of the year at the Azusa Pacific Last-Chance Qualifier Saturday, several Utah Valley University athletes upped their stock for qualifying for the NCAA First and Second Rounds in two weeks in Austin, Texas, and now they are on the bubble.
UVU senior Maryn Pincock broke her own school record in the discus with a winning throw of 50.12 meters, and Kelli Roach finished second in the javelin with a throw of 44.13 meters.
"We are now playing the waiting game with both Maryn and Kelli," UVU assistant track and field coach Kirke Adamson said.
Pincock qualified in the discus last year, and Roach qualified in the javelin two years ago.
Currently, the Wolverines have five student-athletes with a chance to make it to the postseason. Along with Pincock and Roach, Brooke Hodson-Davies (women's 3,000 steeplechase), Michael McPherson (men's long jump) and McKell Camp-Nielson (women's javelin) will find out later in the week if they have qualified.
"This meet was well worth it because we were able to improve on a couple of the athletes' marks to improve their chances of qualifying," Adamson said.
Along with Pincock, the men's 4x100 relay team of McPherson, Nicholas Taylor, Jordan Peterson and Allah Laryea-Akrong placed first with the time of 41.32 seconds.
"We won the meet but it wasn't a superior time like we've run in the past," Adamson said.
In the men's 100 meters, Taylor (10.67) and Laryea-Akrong (10.94) placed eighth and 13th, respectively, while in the 200 meters, Peterson set a new personal record with the time of 21.70 to finish fourth, while Taylor (21.71) was fifth, McPherson (21.91) was seventh and Laryea-Akrong (22.36) was ninth.
"Some of our sprint results weren't exactly what we were hoping for, but it was nice to have the competition," Adamson said.
Jay Hinton is a sports information assistant at Utah Valley University.