May 9, 2008

PROVO, Utah - The Utah Valley women's track and field team finished the first day of the two-day National Athletic Conference 2008 Track and Field Outdoor Championship leading all five teams with a score of 95 at BYU's Clarence F. Robison Track Friday. The UV men's track and field team is in second place with a score of 44 points.

Senior Mariama Salifu broke two meet records as she finished in first place in the preliminary rounds in both the 100-meter dash and the 200-meter dash. Her times were, 11.84 and 24.12 respectfully. Sophomore Rachelle St. Jeor also broke the previous school record reaching a height of 10-feet-6.75-inches in the women's pole vault competition.

"We did really well here today to set us up quite nicely for the majority of the finals to come tomorrow," UV head coach Scott Houle said. "We were able to set the school record in the women's pole vault with St. Jeor's great vault. We also started off the day correctly as our team was able to excel in both finals of the men's and women's steeplechases."

Cal State Bakersfield's women's team followed the leading Wolverines and are currently in second with a score of 36. Houston Baptist is standing in third place with 19, San Francisco finished in fourth with 10 points, and NJIT is in fifth with five.

CSUB's men's team finished in first place after day one in the competition with a total of 52, HBU finished day one in third with 34, NJIT is in the fourth spot with 11, while USF rounds out the top five with a total of eight points.

Right out of the blocks Utah Valley won both the men's and women's 3,000-meter steeplechases, highlighted by junior Chase Englestead as he finished nearly 30 seconds ahead of the nearest competition in the men's race with a time of 9:48.91. In the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase UV took the top three spots as junior Karinne Bentley came from behind to win with a time of 11:45.32. Freshman Melissa Baird finished second and sophomore Mary Nothum took third place.

The National Athletic Conference 2008 Outdoor Track and Field Championships and UVU's track season will conclude Saturday. The meet will get underway at 9:30 a.m. and conclude with final awards to be handed out at approximately 1:15 p.m. Admission is free, and fans are encouraged to come and take advantage of cheering on the Wolverines. For full results from Friday's competition and live updates can be found at www.runnercard.com