SALT LAKE CITY-Last Friday, the University of Utah’s track and field program announced the addition of seven athletes to the roster for the upcoming season.
Six athletes were signed to national letters of intent during the spring signing period and former Union High star Kennedy Powell affirmed her intent to enroll as well. This brings the current signing class for head coach Kyle Kepler to 11.
The new athletes on the roster include 400/800-meter runner Brooklyn James of Clackamas, Ore., who is the 2018 Clackamas High School athlete of the year and was the Class 6-A Oregon state champion in the 400 for the Cavaliers.
Also, Taylor Watson, a sprinter from Aurora, Colo.’s Cherokee Trail High School joins the team while specializing in the 100 and 200-meter dashes.
Skyler Taylor comes to the Utes as a star hurdler out of Southridge High School of Beaverton, Ore., having swept the 100 and 300-meter hurdle titles in Oregon Class 6-A for the Skyhawks.
The Utes added another hurdler in Layton High product Katrina Broadhead as the former Lancers’ star will also compete in the jump (triple jump, high jump, long jump) for Utah.
Another Utah high school product, Makayla (Kayla) Reese of Syracuse, joins the Utes after competing as a hurdler for UNLV. She was the Class 5-A champion in 2016 in the 300-meter hurdles and has experience in both the 100 and 400-meter dashes while with the Titans.
Powell, a star distance runner at Union (the Class 3-A champion in both the 1600 and 3200-meter runs last month at the state championship meet at BYU) will compete in the middle-distance races for the Utes.
Finally, sprinter Lauren O’Banion of Yorba Linda, Calif. rounds out Kepler’s recruiting class and she has experience of excelling in the 100, 200 and 400-meter dashes.
Other members of this class include Scarlet Dale of Lancashire, United Kingdom, Sara Leonard of Anaheim Hills, Calif., Brooke Manson of Sammamish, Wash., Grace McLaughlin of Rockford, Ill. and Sophie Ryan of Manlius, N.Y.
