PALO ALTO, Calif. – BYU men’s track and field opened its outdoor season on Saturday with event wins in the 400-meter hurdles, 3,000-meter steeplechase, javelin and discus throw at the Cardinal Classic. 

"It was great to get outside in some really good weather and compete," BYU sprints, hurdles and relays coach Kyle Grossarth said. "The athletes took advantage of that and ran well. They have been working really hard, and they came out and executed very well. I'm excited for what is to come this outdoor season."

Spencer Carlile took first in the 400m hurdles among a field of 14 competitors, crossing the line at 51.95. The 2022 NCAA West Preliminary qualifier placed nearly a second ahead of runner-up Shareez Hamm from Academy of Art. Jace Jensen took third with a 53.06 performance.

In his first outdoor collegiate meet, James Corrigan bested all competition in the steeplechase with a time of 9:11.37, beating out two distance athletes from host Stanford. Garrett Stanford, a sophomore from Carlsbad, California, placed second in his first-ever outdoor event at BYU with a 9:16.68 time.

Cameron Bates placed first in the javelin with a 74.9m/245-9 mark. Freshman Brinton Paulson claimed third at 62.98m/206-7 in his debut performance at BYU.

In the discus throw, Dallin Shurts and Danny Bryant stood atop 27 total competitors with marks of 58.61m/192-3 and 52.60m/172-7, respectively. Shurts – currently No. 6 all-time at BYU in the discus – resumes right where he left off after concluding last season ranked No. 10 nationally. Bryant’s throw was a new personal best.

Bryant had a productive day, also registering second in the shot put in a field of 17 (17.79m/58-4.5).

Both relay teams saw success as the 4x100-meter squad of Omar Aburouss, Easton Bianchi, Spencer Carlile and Kyler Haughton placed second at 40.89, just 0.31 seconds behind first-place Cal. The 4x400-meter A squad of Aburouss, Carlile, Treyton Anderson and Jared Davis took third overall in the final race of the day with a 3:10.56 finish.

Ryan Cibart raced a 1:49.48 in the 800-meters to place second-overall as BYU’s lone runner in the event that had 28 racers. The finish also marked the sophomore’s outdoor debut as a Cougar.

The Cougars continue their early stretch of the outdoor season with the Aztec Invitational starting next Thursday in San Diego, Calif.

PROVO, Utah — After garnering a combined 13 First Team All-American honors at indoor nationals, BYU men's and women's track and field is set to open its outdoor season at the Cardinal Classic in Palo Alto, Calif. on Saturday. 

Meet Information

• Host: Stanford
• Location: Cobb Track and Angell Field | Stanford, California
• Men's events begin with the javelin throw at 11:20 a.m. PDT and conclude with the 4x400-meter relay at 5:45 p.m. 
• Women's events begin with the long jump at 11:50 a.m. and conclude with the 4x400 at 5:30 p.m.
• Live Results
• Live Stream ($)

Outdoor Season Meet Schedule

Returners

Kenneth Rooks headlines a group of returning BYU men with 10 All-American honors and 15 top-10 marks. Rooks is the Cougars’ lone returning First Teamer and the heir apparent to the program’s steeplechase record. After clocking 8:22.56 at outdoor nationals in 2022, Rooks looks to overtake Henry Marsh’s long-time record of 8:21.60 set in 1977.

After a trio of Second Team finishes a season ago, Casey Clinger and Brandon Garnica return for the Cougars, as does 800-meter specialist Sebastian Fernandez.

Despite only making the team in April 2022, Fernandez wasted no time rewriting record books and clocked 1:47.03 in his first meet with the Cougars, breaking a Clarence F. Robison Track and Field Complex record set in 1989. In 2023, Fernandez will look to jump assistant coach Ryan Waite for No. 4  all-time at BYU.

Dallin Vorkink, Caleb Witsken and Michael Whittaker return after each recorded an All-American finish in field events. Jared Davis, Dallin Draper and Landon Maxfield give BYU a 4x100 squad with three key veterans after the trio helped the Cougars to Honorable Mention All-American status in 2022.

The BYU women return 2022 javelin national champion Ashton Riner-Lunt, five All-Americans, six athletes from school record-breaking relay squads and a bevy of athletes representing 21 program top-10 marks.

Riner-Lunt looks to defend her javelin title in 2023 after a standout 2022 campaign in which she took home the hardware at nationals with a throw of 58.24m/191-1; nearly seven feet short of her school record-breaking toss of 60.36m/198-0.5 set in April 2022.

Cierra Tidwell Allphin returns after a Second Team All-American finish with a 1.80m/5-10 clearance at outdoor nationals in June 2022. Claire Seymour, Aubrey Frentheway and Lexy Halladay-Lowry will each run it back for the Cougars and look to improve on Honorable Mention All-American citations from a season ago.

Frentheway has a school record in her sights as well. The senior from Cheyenne, Wyoming clocked the program’s second-best all-time 10,000-meters performance in 2021 at 33:03.50. Frentheway seeks to exceed that in 2023 seize the long-standing school record (32:51.20) set by Carey May in 1984.

Amy Christiansen Palmer’s 25 year-old shot put record may also be in jeopardy as Gretchen Hoekstre returns looking to top her No. 2 all-time mark of 16.27m/53-4.5.

Adaobi Tabugbo, Dolita Shaw and Annalise Hart each return after clocking 44.63 in a school record-setting 4x100-meter relay performance at the 2022 Desert Heat Classic in Tucson, Ariz.