Nokes was the first of three Wolverines to come across the line at 33:17.71, followed by Reagan Doman in 33rd at 34:30.79. Ari Trimble finished in 43rd with a time of 35:43.52.

Grace Degarimore started the day of action for the Wolverines in the shot put, finishing in 38th at 14.66m in the first regionals of her collegiate career. Degarimore will have one more shot to punch her ticket to Eugene on Saturday when she competes in the discus at 12 p.m. MT.

Ella Hopper closed out her collegiate career competing in the 400-meter hurdles. Hopper took fifth in her heat and 28th overall at 58.38, falling just .23 seconds short of advancing to Saturday’s quarterfinals.

The Wolverine men will wrap up their regional action tomorrow with six athletes hoping to punch their tickets to Eugene. The men’s 4×100 crew of Gavin Stafford, Garrett Nelson, Caidan Cooper, and Kade Thompson will kick things off at 4 p.m. MT. Sila Kiplagat will run next in the 1500-meter at 4:15, then Cameron Jacobs will close out the day in the steeplechase at 4:40. All three events will run consecutively and will be broadcast live on ESPN+.

Utah Valley will have three more women’s athletes competing on Saturday. Degarimore will open the day in the discus, then Caren Kipsirat will run in the steeplechase at 4:40 p.m. MT. Nokes will run in the 5,000-meter at 7:10.

Wrestlers prepare for U23 Freestyle Nationals

Utah Valley University will have 12 wrestlers competing at this week’s U23 Freestyle Nationals at SPIRE Academy in Geneva, Ohio.

The U23 freestyle brackets begin on Saturday, May 30 and conclude on Sunday, May 31. All matches will be streamed live on FloWrestling with brackets and results available via USA Bracketing.

Included in the field among the Wolverines are returning NCAA qualifier Kael Bennie, who is one of five in the 92kg weight class to have finished last season ranked in FloWrestling’s final polls.

The full list of UVU wrestlers, all competing for Brunson Utah Valley Regional Training Center, includes: Talen Eck (57kg), Layne Kleimann (61kg), Geronimo Rivera (61kg), Smokey McClure (65kg), Josh Fish (70kg), Ian Fritz (70kg), Jason Worthley (70kg), Zyon Trujillo (74kg), Trevor Frank (79kg), Christian Smoot (86kg), Chandler Thompson (86kg) and Kael Bennie (92kg).

Nielson promotes Lai to associate head coach

Utah Valley women’s basketball head coach Dan Nielson announced that assistant coach McKenzie (Mangino) Lai has been promoted to associate head coach. Lai will continue her current responsibilities on staff and will now serve as the program’s recruiting coordinator.

“I’m thrilled to move Kenz into this new role,” Nielson said. “Over the last couple of seasons, she has played an integral role in our reaching back-to-back WNITs and recording the most wins in a season in program history. She is a fantastic recruiter and on-court coach. Kenz consistently brings positivity and preparedness to the office and believes in what we are building at UVU. I felt this was a natural progression for her and our program.”

During her tenure at Utah Valley, Lai has helped the Wolverines secure back-to-back postseason berths for the first time in program history and reach new heights, posting 19 wins in the 2024-25 season. That campaign included the program’s first postseason victory, a 70-64 win over Air Force.

“I’m honored to take on the associate head coach role and continue pushing our program forward,” Lai said. “This program means a lot to me, and I’m grateful to continue working alongside Dan. We have a special group, and I’m looking forward to helping our program reach new heights.”

This past season, Utah Valley ranked among the top seven nationally in several defensive categories, including third in steals per game (15.2), fourth in turnovers forced per game (25.1) and seventh in turnover margin (7.48).

Rising junior point guard Cambree Blackham earned multiple conference honors, including second-team All-WAC recognition and a selection to the All-Defensive Team. Teammates Kylee Mabry and Tahlia White also received conference accolades during the 2024-25 season.

Before joining Utah Valley, Lai had successful coaching stints with the Utah State Aggies and Hawai’i Pacific Sharks women’s basketball programs. She progressed from graduate assistant to head assistant coach and later to associate head coach, helping lead the Sharks to a 25-game winning streak during the 2019-20 season while developing two All-Americans and five All-PacWest selections.

Fish transfers to UVU wrestling

Utah Valley University head coach Adam Hall has announced the signing of Northern Colorado transfer Josh Fish, a native Utahn who prepped at Westlake High School.

Fish spent his first season of collegiate wrestling in Greeley, Colorado with the Bears, also of the Big 12. He redshirted and wrestled unattached in limited action, which included a runner-up finish at the Western Colorado Open.

“We are excited to welcome Josh into our program,” said Hall. “He’s a hard worker and is going to add a lot of value to our culture and to our middle weights. He is very grateful for the opportunity to help our program grow. We expect him to challenge for a spot right away.”

As a prep wrestler, Fish was a four-time placer at state including a state championship at 150 pounds as a junior in 2023-24. He was fourth as a freshman, the runner-up as a sophomore and took third as a senior. Fish was also named to the All-Valley Boys Wrestling Team by the Daily Herald.

Fish has been training under the Brunson Utah Valley RTC and will compete this weekend at the U23 Freestyle Nationals in Ohio.