Senior MacKenzie Preece's victory in the 3,000-meter steeplechase helped guide the Utah Valley women's track and field team to a first-place finish at the UC Riverside Spring Track Classic during the weekend.
Preece clocked a personal-best time of 11:12.50 in the steeplechase for the 10th-fastest time in UVU program history for that event en route to the squad's first win of the year. In addition, Preece led a contingent of 21 Wolverines that finished inside the top three in their respective events at the meet.
"This was an all-around very successful meet for us," said Utah Valley head coach Scott Houle. "We had great performances from our distance runners, starting with big days from MacKenzie [Preece] for the women and Tyson [Lambert] again on the men's side. Then in the sprints, jumps and runs we saw quite a bit of improvement in the events there, so we were happy the way things turned out for us in Riverside."
The Wolverine women tallied 125 points during the two-day invite to finish ahead of second-place North Dakota State with 103 points and third-place finisher UC Irvine with 101 points. Overall, Utah Valley received 10 top-three finishes from the women's squad during the three-day meet.
Finishing behind Preece in the women's 3K steeplechase, junior McKayla Morgan placed second after running an 11:31.42. Also placing among the top three in the women's distance runs was senior Darian Dutton, who took third in the 3K (10:01.71) with UVU's third all-time fastest time in that run.
Behind victories from junior Tyson Lambert and freshman Camden Smith, UVU's men's track and field finished second in the men's team standings with 141 points, behind host UC Riverside, which racked up 157 points compared to 141 for the Wolverines.
Lambert's 3K win came after he logged the third quickest time in school history and career best for that race with a finishing time 8:29.93. The new top individual time for Lambert led two UVU men's distance runners to finish inside the top three for the 3K, as senior Jason Lynch made his season debut with his own personal record 8:34.70 to also crack the top five in UVU's all-time outdoor history.
Meanwhile, Smith earned a victory in his second career men's 1,500-meter run with a time of 3:59.84 to lead a sweep of top-three finishers for the Wolverines in that event. Smith's time marked a career best and was followed by freshman Brigham Whitney (4:01.65) in second and Brandon Edmondson (4:01.79) in third.
Freshman Adrian Jones gave Utah Valley its last win of the meet with his first-place finish in the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase. Jones' first career victory in that event came on the heels of a personal best mark of 9:32.29.
UVU picked up another win in the men's 4x100-meter relay, as Tyler Liddiard, Jordan Peterson, Jordan Carder and Stetson Sartor teamed for a 41.53 second finish. Carder also joined forces with Jake Morgan, Brandon Smart and Cade Owen to record the school's sixth all-time fastest outdoor 4x400-meter relay time (3:14.51) while they finished second.
In the women's 4x400-meter relay, the Wolverines took second behind a combined 3:46.09 from juniors Courtney Paddock, Alena Gillespie and Mykah Ouderkirk and sophomore Ashley Snyder. Their time was the second best ever recorded by a UVU women's 4x400-relay squad.
Along with its success in the running events, Utah Valley notched five top-three finishes in the men's and women's field events in Riverside.
For the women, Junior Chelsey Stegelmeier finished third in the hammer throw with the farthest throw of her career and fifth in school history (50.65m) while also placing third in the shot put (13.06m). Senior Chantil Martin landed ahead of Stegelmeier in the hammer throw, as she was second with a throw that traveled 53.11 meters.
In the women's long jump, Ouderkirk's leap of 5.66 meters was good enough for third farthest among 13 participants at the meet.
Freshman Jeff Whittaker had the ninth all-time farthest javelin throw by a Wolverine, as he placed second in the javelin with a 54.63-meter throw.
On the men's side, Cole Eisenhour and freshman Andre Jones led the way for UVU in the hurdles with another pair of third-place finishes. Eisenhour ran the 110-meter hurdles in 14.66 seconds to take third, while Jones' placing came after finishing the 400-meter hurdles in 53.37 seconds.
Rounding out the top individual performances at the meet was junior Stetson Sartor, who recorded a time of 10.77 seconds in the 100-meter dash to finish third.
The Wolverines are set to compete at the San Diego State Aztec Invitational on March 24-25. Results will be posted on the Wolverine website.