MVHS Alum. Makes All-American at Nationals

By NICK YAMASHITA

The Progress

Moapa Valley High School alumnus and current BYU Track and Field athlete, Caleb Witsken, placed 6th at the NCAA Divison I College National Indoor Track and Field Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas on the weekend of March 11-13. The top ten placement gave Witsken All American Honors in his event of pole-vaulting.

Witsken cleared 5.50 m (18.5 ft.) for his best of the event. Clayton Fritsch of Sam Houston cleared the same but had more misses. So Witsken took over the 6th and higher spot.

But even though Witsken had good results, the competition didn’t start all good for him. The bad news was received when he first arrived in Arkansas. His poles, which had been packaged and flighted in for the competition, turned out to be broken when opened them in Arkansas. Each pole costs $700-$900 each.

“Sadly all of my poles got run over somehow at the airport,” Witsken said. “But I was able to borrow other competitors’ poles and still jump as well as I had been in practice. My main strategy was to do what I had practiced and I did just that.”

Witsken explained that the top 16 athletes of each event were in attendance at the meet. His BYU team had a huge showing as the fellow teammate and friend Zach McWhorter cleared 5.80 m (19.25 feet) and placed second in Pole Vault, breaking the BYU Record.

The BYU men’s team took 16th place while the BYU Women’s took 7th.
“It was a great experience!” Witsken said. “I enjoyed watching and competing with such amazing people.”

But now there is no rest for the weary for Witsken. He races on to compete in the outdoor track and field season. Witsken competes in the Decathlon and has found the competition in that event to be tough.
“My goals are to be in the top 12 for regionals so I can compete at the nationals for Outdoor Track and Field,” he said. “It definitely has been more competitive than indoor.”

Wisken expressed apprecation for the support given by so many to help him achieve what he has. “I just really want to thank again everyone back in Moapa Valley for their support and of course my teammates and coaches at BYU,” he said.

The NCAA Division I West Regional Preliminaries are scheduled for May 27-29 in College Station, Texas and the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships are scheduled for June 9-12 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.