CEDAR CITY, Utah - Mar. 31 - Southern Utah's Eccles Coliseum played host to its first track meet of the season today, as the Thunderbirds took on Big Sky competitor Northern Arizona in a dual. Despite windy conditions, the meet took place as scheduled.
"This was a really good meet for our program," head coach Eric Houle said. "We had some good competition with a Big Sky team and spectators were able to see some great performances by our athletes."
SUU thrower Kayla Kovar set new personal records with first-place finishes in all three of her events and improved all of her previous school records. Kovar's shot put mark of 50-2.75 ranks second in Southern Utah's records, while her discus throw of 162-02 ranks third. Kovar also threw the hammer to a distance of 187-09, which ranks fourth in the school's top ten.
The men were led by Cody Olsen in the throws, with a first-place javelin finish and mark of 191-06. Chris Johnson led the men in the shot put with a mark of 154-0, ranking 10th in Southern Utah's records.
The Thunderbirds also dominated in the distance races as sister and brother Danielle West-Jewkes and Austin West led the team in their respective mile races. West-Jewkes led the field in the women's race, finishing in 5:06.65, while West's second-place time of 4:20.29 ranks fourth in the school records.
The T-Birds swept the 800-meter runs, with Dallas Eborn leading the men with 1:56.59 and Kaylee Coates leading the women with 2:17.07. Diana Medina-Mitchell finished first in the women's 3,200-meter run, recording a time of 11:03.38, while Clinton Rhoton finished in a close second on the men's side with 9:44.69.
Preston Myers led the sprinters with a first-place time of 22.66 in the 200-meter dash, while the men's 4x100-meter relay team also earned a first-place finish over NAU.
The women were led by Jasmine Paicely-Mullins, who recorded a 13.74 time and first-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles. The women's 4x100-meter relay team recorded a top-ten SUU time of 46.48 with a second-place finish, while NAU's team set a new record of 45.55 for Eccles Coliseum.
Kyle Kopp and Stephen Wilson broke in to the school's jumps records, as Kopp recorded 23-11.5 in the long jump and Wilson recorded a 45-11.75 in the triple jump. Both times rank sixth in their respective top tens. Cheyenne Thatcher led the women in a tie for first-place, clearing a height of 5-3 in the high jump.
Southern Utah's next home meet will take place on Apr. 26, against in-state rival Utah Valley University. Meanwhile, the team will next travel to California to compete in the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto and the San Francisco State Distance Carnival in San Francisco.
