SEATTLE — BYU track and field wrapped up competition at the UW Invitational on Saturday with its distance runners making strides toward qualifying for nationals. 

In addition to BYU's presence in Seattle, recent alums Conner Mantz, Whittni Orton, Anna Camp Bennett and current senior Courtney Wayment competed at the Millrose Games in New York. 

“It was nice to get the distance squad out and into action,” said BYU Director of Track and Field Ed Eyestone. “I was pleased with what I saw.”

Men's Recap
Aidan Troutner and Brandon Garnica highlighted the day’s performances among the No. 6 BYU men.

Troutner clocked a 4:00.58 mile, good for No. 9 all-time at BYU, surpassing a time of 4:00.77 set by Clayton Young in 2019. Troutner’s finished 10th in a field of 50 and edged in-state rival Nate Osterstock of Southern Utah by just under a second.

Saturday marked Troutner’s first collegiate indoor mile.

Lucas Bons also finished in the top-half of the men’s mile standings with a time of 4:05.03 for 22nd. Garrett Marsing (27th) and Kenneth Rooks (34th) competed in the mile as well with Rooks setting a personal-best.

While seven BYU men’s runners set personal-bests on Saturday, none was more resounding than Garnica’s 7:55.04 in the 3000m. The junior from Springville, Utah surpassed his previous best by 11 seconds on the way to finishing seventh in a field of 63.

Freshman Joey Nokes competed in his first collegiate indoor 3000m on Saturday and came in 25th with a time of 8:07.49. Justin Hartshorn, Adam Wood, Davin Thompson and Zach Erikson each set personal-bests in the 3000m while finishing top-40. Aaron Leavens and Zac Jacklin also competed in the 3000.

Austin Klingler, a freshman from West Jordan, Utah, competed in the men’s only mid-distance event of the day. Klingler clocked a personal-best of 1:51.06 to finish fourth of 28 in the men’s 800m.

Women's Recap
The women's distance runners continued their competition at Dempsey Indoor on Saturday, beginning with the 3000m. With a personal best time of 9:29.42, McKenna Lee placed 12th. Madi Moffitt finished 30th with a time of 10:01.09, Lizzie Dildine, making her freshman track debut, clocked a 10:02.14 for a 33rd-place finish and Kaylee Thompson ran a 10:04.15 to finish 35th. Allie Warner competed in her first meet since returning for serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, finishing 44th with a time of 10:17.32. 

"Today was a solid opener all around for us," BYU Associate Director of Track & Field Diljeet Taylor said. "This meet serves as a rust buster for us and we are looking forward to working hard and continuing to get better."

In the mile run, Lexy Halladay came in ninth with a time of 4:40.31. Freshman Carmen Alder (4:44.61) finished right behind her in 11th place, followed by Heather Hanson (4:46.02) in 12th, Sadie Sargent (26th, 4:55.19), Kate Hunter (29th, 4:56.03) and Alissa Fielding (35th, 4:59.94).

Meghan Hunter (2:06.67) and Lauren Ellsworth-Barnes (2:06.86) placed third and fourth, respectively, in the 800m. Krystie Solomon (2:13.36) and Alli Baker (2:18.26) also competed in the event for the Cougars.

Sierra Freeland also made the trip to Seattle for No. 7 BYU. The senior placed fourth in the shot put with a mark of 14.38m/47-2.25. 

“All-in-all, we’re moving in a good direction,” Eyestone said. “We don’t have any distance runners qualified for nationals yet, so we’re hoping to strengthen that up when we come back to Seattle in two weeks for another race.”

The Cougars will travel to Spokane, Ogden and New York next weekend for three meets across the nation, beginning with the WSU Open & Invite held at The Podium in Spokane, Washington. The BYU distance team will return to action at the Husky Classic on Feb. 11-12.

PROVO, Utah — Top-10 ranked BYU indoor track and field will look to continue its recent success as it competes at the UW Invitational in Seattle on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 28-29. 

Last time out...

The Cougars brought home five event wins and notched five individual BYU top-10 marks at the Air Force Invitational on Jan. 20-22. In the team scoring, both men's and women's team finished second behind the host Falcons. View the full Air Force meet recap here. 

Meet Information

• Host: Washington at Dempsey Indoor Track 
• Live Stream ($)
• Live Results
• Schedule
  • Friday: events run 3-7:10 p.m. PST.
  • Saturday: events run 10 a.m. - 4:05 p.m. PST 
• Attendance
  • General Admission: $10
  • Fans under age 12 receive free entry
  • All fans required to wear a mask
  • All fans age 12 and older must provide proof of vaccination

All-American Courtney Wayment will compete at the 114th Millrose Games in New York on Saturday. Wayment is slated to race in the 3000m that is set to begin at 1:04 p.m. MST. The Games will be broadcast on NBC or can be streamed from the NBC Sports app. 

BYU records at Dempsey Indoor Track

Current BYU women's athletes Alena Ellsworth and Lauren Ellsworth-Barnes combined with Anna Camp-Bennett and Whittni Orton to clock a facility-record 10:53.95 in the distance medley relay in Feb. 2020. 

Last season, Conner Mantz set the Dempsey record for men's 5000m at 13:28.00. 

Rankings and Recognition

The USTFCCCA released its inaugural 2022 indoor regional and national rankings on Monday.

BYU men's track and field debuted in the top-25 at No. 6, ahead of other top-10 teams such as Texas A&M, Iowa and Alabama. The BYU women landed at No. 7, in front of traditional powers Texas A&M and LSU. 

Both BYU men's and women's teams came in at No. 2 in the Mountain Region, ranked only behind future Big 12 counterpart Texas Tech. 

Seven BYU athletes currently hold top-10 Division I marks on the season. Zach McWhorter and Courtney Wayment lead the nation in men's pole vault and women's 5000m, respectively. Lucas Bons and Garrett Marsing each rank in the top-10 for men's 3000m, while Halley Folsom-Walker holds a top-5 pentathlon score and Gretchen Hoekstre remains top-5 in the women's shot put.