UVU track and field: Wolverine women lead after Day 1, men are fourth

HUMBLE, Texas — The Utah Valley University track teams began their quest for their fourth straight Great West Conference titles Thursday with three first-place finishes on Day 1 of the championships.

McKell Camp-Nielson set a new school record and moved up to 14th in the nation collegiately and 24th in the U.S. overall with a javelin throw of 166 feet, 11 inches.

"She was hovering around that all day long and when her sixth throw was at its peak we knew it was going to be her best throw," UVU track and field coach Scott Houle said.

Her throw blitzed the second-place finisher by 29 feet. UVU's Kelli Roach finished third in the event with a throw of 135-06 and Markale Chadaz was sixth at 116-09.

After three events, the UVU women's team leads with 47 points, followed by North Dakota (34), Texas-Pan America (19), Seattle U. (6), NJIT (5) Bakersfield (3) and Houston Baptist (3).

On the men's side, UVU is fourth with 15 points. North Dakota leads with 22, followed by UTPA (18) and Seattle U. (17).

UVU's Becca Hutton (159-10) and Maryn Pincock (141-04) finished first and seventh, respectively, in the women's hammer.

Stephanie Christensen (37 minutes, 28.17 seconds) won the women's 10,000 meters and Angela Baker (28:21.96) was third, while in the men's 10,000 meters, Mike Felix placed second (31:27.73) and Trevor Baker placed eighth (33:13.96).

In the men's javelin, Mark Jones finished third at 183-04.

Action in the men's and women's decathlon and heptathlon resumes at 11 a.m. MT Friday, while field events begin at noon with the men's shot put. The running events get underway at 3:05 p.m. with the women's 1,500 meters.

Jay Hinton is a sports information assistant at Utah Valley University