PROVO, Utah -- With the BYU men’s track team splitting up to compete in three different meets, Dennis Christensen took first place and set a new career-best mark in the shot put at the UVU Hal Wing Collegiate Invitational.

Christensen’s first-place throw measured 55-07.25.

“We were lucky to have some really good weather today and I was really pleased with our guys,” head coach Mark Robison said. “I was really impressed with the way we competed and it was just good to get this kind of repetition in this early in the season.”

In the javelin throw, Kyle Baker and Chase Dalton represented the Cougars well by taking first and second place, respectively. Baker threw a distance of 209-09.00 while Dalton threw 199-10.50.

Winston Wilkinson and Jacob Foutz took first and second, respectively, in the men’s discus competition. Wilkinson threw a distance of 162-06.75 while Foutz threw an even 162-00.00, setting a career-best mark in the process.

Joseph Stull took third place in the hammer throw with a mark of 168-07.25.

Sophomore Michael Andraszczyk took sixth place in the men’s 800-meter run with a time of 1:56.00. In the 3,000-meter steeplechase Aaron Fletcher, a freshman, took fourth in 9:54.94.

In the 110-meter hurdles Bejon Bryant and Joshua Weirich took fifth and ninth place, respectively, with times of 14.98 and 15.24.

John Glazier took second place in the long jump with a mark of 23-07.75. Freshman Scott Matheson finished in fourth with a jump of 23-04.75. Both athletes set career-best marks with their jumps. Sophomore Jonathan Ferguson took 10th place in the event with a jump of 21-06.75.

Matheson also took first in the triple jump. It was his second-time ever competing in the event and he jumped a distance of 46-05.00.

In the high jump finals, Dakoda John earned first place with a jump of 6-08.75 and Sam Rockwood tied for second in the event by clearing a height of 6-06.75.

Kyle Brown took first in the pole vault with a mark of 16-04.00. Jameson Shirley took fourth, clearing a height of 14-09.25.

Texas Relays

BYU’s 4x400-meter relay team of Mario Harper, Rhyan Atrice, Cade Lindahl and Korey Smith took seventh place in the preliminary rounds and will advance to compete in tomorrow’s final. In the men’s pole vault, senior Victor Weirich took seventh place with a mark of 5.51m. On Thursday, junior javelin thrower Keith Keller took first place in his section with a throw of 214-10.00.

The Texas Relays continue tomorrow with the men's 100-meter dash.

Full results from Friday’s events at the Texas Relays can be found here.

Stanford Invitational

In his first race of the outdoor season, Jared Ward took third place in the 10,000-meter run at Stanford. Ward finished in 28:36.15 while Tylor Thatcher took 10th place with a time of 28:59.29.

In the 1,500-meter run, Jason Witt took third place in his section with a time of 3:49.31. Brad Nye and Jared Rohatinsky took ninth and 10th place, respectively, in their section with times of 3:52.13 and 3:52.64. Jonathan Brown also took third place in his section, finishing the race in 3:54.21.

Steve Flint took third place in his section of the 3,000-meter steeplechase, finishing in 8:49.13. Erik Harris and Daniel Carney took fourth and sixth, respectively, in their section of the event. Harris finished in 9:08.23 while Carney ran the race in 9:11.24.

Tommy Gruenewald took eighth in his section of the men’s 5,000-meter run with a time of 13:58.33. Conner Peloquin took 15th in his section, with Spencer Gardner coming in 17th. Peloquin finished the race in 14:39.09 while Gardner ran a 14:40.49. Rex Shields also competed in the event, taking 28th in the section in 15:24.51.

Action continues tomorrow at the Stanford Invitational with the men's 800-meter run.

TEXAS AND STANFORD DAY 2 RECAP
 

PROVO, Utah -- The men’s track team will split up this weekend to compete in three meets -- the Texas Relays, the Stanford Invitational and the UVU Hal Wing Collegiate Invitational.

The Texas Relays will take place at Mike A. Myers Track Stadium in Austin, Texas on Friday and Saturday. The Cougars will compete against No. 4 Texas, No. 6 Oregon and No. 12 UCLA among others.

“It’ll be a good weekend for us in terms of seeing improvement,” head coach Mark Robison said. “We need to get more repetition and we’ll get a lot of our athletes competing this week across the three meets. At Stanford and Texas we’ll have some phenomenal competition.”

The Stanford Invitational will be held at Cobb Track and Angell Field in Stanford, Calif. on Friday and Saturday. The Cougars will send most of their distance runners to Stanford to compete against athletes from No. 2 Arkansas, No. 6 Oregon and No. 20 Arizona. The UVU Hal Wing Collegiate Invitational will take place on Friday at Hal Wing Track and Field.

BYU hopes to continue to see improvement as the young outdoor season progresses.

“We’ve been fortunate to have great weather here so we’ve been able to have good practices outdoors,” Robison said. “It makes a big difference to get that repetition outdoors instead of at our indoor facility.”

Action starts in Texas at 10 a.m. CDT on Friday morning. The Stanford Invitational will begin at 11 a.m. PDT and the UVU Invitational will start at 8:30 a.m. MDT.