WALNUT, California—The BYU men’s track and field team sent multiple distance runners to compete in the 54th Annual Mt. SAC Relays this weekend against both professional and top collegiate competition and three runners return home with performances that put them in the top 25 in the nation.

Competing against only one other collegiate athlete and a heat full of professional runners, Cade Lindahl placed fifth in the 400m Olympic Dev. Elite event, with a time of 46.50. 

In the 800m open, Justin Hedin placed 11th, finishing with a time of 1:49.86, and Curtis Carr placed 10th in the 3,000m Steeplechase running 8:57.75.

All-American Miles Batty came in 15th in the 5,000m Invite Elite race, finishing in 13:46.84, the 13th best time in the nation so far this season.

BYU finished two runners in the top 10 in the 10,000m Invite Elite event, with Alden Bahr finishing fifth in 29:09.13 and Jared Ward coming in ninth with a time of 29:13.81.  With these times, both runners secured their place in the top 25 in the nation, with Bahr coming in 15th and Ward coming in 22nd.

While the distance runners competed at Mt. SAC, a couple sprinters and field athletes headed to Utah State to compete in the 2012 USU Mark Faldmo Invitational.

Steven Hart finished fourth in the 200m in 22.13, and both Hart and Isaac Robison competed in the 400m, finishing second and fourth with times of 48.67 and 49.27, respectively.

In the field events, Brayden Bringhurst finished first in the pole vault, clearing 4.90m (16’ 00.75”) and Seth Weiler finished fifth in the discus, throwing 43.78m (143’ 08”).

The Cougars will return home to host the annual Robison Invitational on April 27-28.

Final results from the Mt. SAC Relays are available at mtsacrelays.com. 

Final results from the Mark Faldmo Invitational are available at utahstateaggies.com. 

PROVO, Utah – The BYU men’s and women’s track and field teams will head to California on Thursday, April 19, to compete in the 54th annual Mt. SAC Relays against some of the top competition in the world.

Professional athletes from countries ranging from Italy to Nigeria will be in attendance alongside the best collegiate competitors from across the NCAA. Runners from schools including Arizona, Arizona State, Georgetown, UCLA, USC and Villanova, along with a number of others, will compete at the meet.

Senior Miles Batty will compete for the second time this outdoor season and will represent the Cougars in the 5000-meters. This marks the first time this calendar year that Batty will compete in a race longer than 3000m.

The men’s team will also have a trio of highly-ranked runners compete in the 800m. Justin Hedin and Ryan Waite, both of whom rank in the top-25 nationally in the event, will compete alongside Shaquille Walker, who ranks 61st in the nation.

Other top athletes that will lead the men’s team include Victor Weirich in the pole vault and Cade Lindahl in the 400m.

On the women’s side, Nachelle Mackie will try to top her season-best time of 2:03.02 in the 800m. Mackie will compete in the Olympic Development section of the race alongside seven professional athletes. She will be the only collegian in the section.

Senior Lacey Bleazard will also compete in the 800m with hopes to top her season-best time of 2:07.78 that she ran at UCLA earlier this year.

The Cougars will also put three competitors, Stephanie Jensen Bills, Kathryn Vidmar and Loren Wynn, in the 10000m race for the first time in 2012.

Allyson Anderson, who currently ranks ninth in the NCAA in the javelin, will be the lone field competitor for the women’s team.

The meet kicks off on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. PT and is scheduled to conclude on Saturday at 7:40 p.m. Live results are available at mtsacrelays.com.