SEATTLE, Wash.— Kristi Rush recorded a new personal record for the one mile with a time of 4:44.78 and made it to BYU’s top 10 of all time board.

“From where she’s been, Kristy Rush’s mile where she ran 4:44.78 was a really great performance," BYU head coach Ed Eyestone said. "She beat her PR by 12 seconds in the mile, and to do that in a shorter distance is big time and she represented us well."

Eyestone also said that Shea Martinez-Collinsworth ran a nice race. Collinsworth ran a time of 2:06.70 in the 800 meters and placed third out of 62 other competitors. Among those competitors also included BYU’s Lauren Ellsworth (2:10.64), Madelyn Brooks (2:11.36), and Kaylee Packham (2:14.57) who all placed in the top 20 for the 800 meter run.

Natalie Shields-Connolly ran in the 5000-meter race with a time of 16:30.85. This was eight seconds away from reaching the BYU top-10 all-time board.

“It was a nice PR for her (Connolly). It was only seconds away from our top-10 all-time board, so that was a really nice effort on her part,” said Eyestone.

Laura Young also ran the 5000-meter race and won her heat with a time of 17:03.13. Eyestone said she looked good in winning it.

Sadie Nielsen beat her personal record in the weight throw, throwing a mark of 14.79 meters.

This meet was not a scored meet, the invitational allowed the athletes to strive for times to qualify them for the NCAA and conference meets.

“I think it was an exceptional meet. It was a real step up for the season thus far. Everyone that we came with did a great job,” said Eyestone.

UW Invitational results.  

Next week BYU heads to Pocatello, Idaho for the Mountain State Games and Albuquerque, NM for the NM Collegiate Track and Field Classic.

PROVO, Utah—The women’s BYU track and field team heads to the Washington Invitational in Seattle, Washington with their distance runners, sprinters, and throwers this weekend.

On the women’s side there will be a handful of athletes that will be running their first race since cross-country. These athletes include Natalie Shields-Connolly (3000m), Yesenia Silva, and Ashleigh Warner.

"Natalie had an outstanding cross-country season, so we are expecting big things out of her this indoor season," Eyestone said. 

Other female athletes to watch at this meet include Kaylee Packham (400m) and Shea Martinez-Collinsworth (800m). 

Collinsworth raced a 2:04.52 at the Texas A&M Invitational a couple weeks ago, which is a time that should qualify for the NCAA championships. Eyestone said she should be a highlight runner because of her qualifying times. 

“This is really going to be a debut for our long distance runners. We saw some good things out of our middle distance runners a few weeks ago at Texas A&M, but now we’ll have a chance to take both our middle and long distance along with a few sprinters and throwers to see what we can do,” Eyestone said.

The meet will be Friday and Saturday Jan. 29-30. For a schedule of events and live results go to gohuskies.com