EUGENE, Ore. — Ashton Riner took home the Cougars’ first ever javelin national title as No. 14 BYU women’s track and field opened competition at the NCAA Division 1 Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Hayward Field on Thursday.

“I’m super proud of Ashton,” BYU throws coach Niklas Arrhenius said. “ I always felt that she had this capacity, so it’s amazing that she’s been able to have this great, year, stay healthy, and be able to win this championship.

The nation’s leader coming into the final, Riner launched a 58.24m/191-1 opening mark, that no other thrower would touch in the 24-athlete flight. The junior would win the event by just under two feet, earning the Cougar’s first women’s field title since Anna Mosdell’s discus title in 1992.

"Ashton demonstrated tonight why she was the No. 1 ranked javelin thrower in the nation," BYU director of track and field Ed Eyestone said. "She took the lead in dominant fashion on her very first throw and was never challenged. I'm so happy for her and Coach Arrhenius, who with his three javelin entries has become one of the top javelin coaches in the country."

Riner is also the first BYU field athlete, men’s or women’s, to win an individual national title since Arrehnius did so in 2007. Alex McAllister competed in the javelin as well, placing 18th overall with a mark of 50.71m/166-4.

Senior Courtney Wayment opened the evening in the 3000-meter steeplechase semifinal, taking care of business by running a 9:41.21 to advance to Saturday's final.

Wayment led nearly the entire way before giving way to Akransas’ Logan Jolly, Notre Dame’s Olivia Makrezich and West Virginia’s Ceili McCabe during the bell lap to finish fourth in her heat, and overall, securing an automatic bid.

The Bowerman award watch list member will race in the steeplechase final on Saturday at 2:54 p.m. PDT for a shot at the third invitational national title of her career.

Freshman Lexy Halladay also competed in the steeplechase, finishing 23rd with a time of 10:31.38. In the 800-meters semifinal, junior Claire Seymour finished 18th after running a 2:04.91, and junior Aubrey Frentheway’s 34:31.59 was good for 22nd place in the 10,000-meters.

Men's Decathlon
Dallin Vorkink won the concluding event of the decathlon with a 4:22.92 time in the 1,500-meters, earning 792 points and jumping to an 11th-place finish with a total of 7,592.

Vorkink struggled to begin day two of the decathlon, finding himself mired in 20th after the 110-meter hurdles. The junior from Kirksville, Missouri went on to finish top-5 in three of his final four events, including fifth in the discus throw (42.63m/138-10) and second in the pole vault (4.91m/16-1.25). Vorkink still had plenty left in the tank for the 1,500m as he plowed into the lead and staved off UT-Arlington’s Lucas Van Klaveren for the win.

At 11th overall, Vorkink finishes the season as a Second Team All-American, improving from his 17th-place and Honorable Mention All-American finish a season ago.

Day 3
Halley Folsom Walker begins day three in Eugene with the heptathlon 100-meter hurdles on Friday at 1 p.m. PDT on ESPN3. Kenneth Rooks, Colten Yardley and Casey Clinger will each compete in the their respective finals beginning on Friday at 6:24 p.m. PDT on ESPN2. 

PROVO, Utah — No. 4/14 BYU men's and women’s track and field will send a total of 22 athletes to the 2022 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon next week.

The Cougars will compete athletes in 12 different events, starting Wednesday, June 8 at 12:30 p.m. PDT. With the exception of the heptathlon and decathlon, men’s events run Wednesday and Friday, June 8 and 10, while the BYU women compete in their events on Thursday and Saturday, June 9 and 11.

Meet Information

• June 8-11
• Hayward Field // Eugene, Oregon
• Complete Meet Schedule
• Start Lists: Men // Women
• Live Results
• Watch/Stream on ESPN Networks (Broadcast schedule below)
• Recaps: Day 1 // Day 2 // Day 3 // Day 4

The 12 entries from the BYU men are tied for second-most nationally, while the nine qualified BYU women are tied for seventh-most nationally. As a team, the Cougars tallied 21 entries, which is tied for eighth in the nation and fifth-most in school history. 

Women's Preview
Finishing 10th last season, the Cougars look to earn back-to-back top-10 finishes at the Outdoor Championships. The BYU women head into Eugene led by Courtney Wayment and Ashton Riner, who both hold the best time or mark in the nation for the respective events, and took first in their event at the NCAA West Preliminary in Fayetteville, Arkansas a week ago. 

Wayment ran away in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, finishing with a time of 9:42.32, five seconds faster than the next finisher. Lexy Halladay also qualified in the steeplechase, finished 10th with a time of 10:06.15, good for an automatic qualifying spot with a third-place finish in her heat.

Riner threw a 57.25m/187-10 in the javelin, a mark nearly eight feet further than the second-place finisher. Teammate Alex McAllister's mark of 52.26m/171-5 qualified her as well, placing her seventh overall at the Preliminary.

Aubrey Frentheway's late push in the 10,000-meters earned her a qualifying spot at 11th-place with a time of 33:55.84, the third women's distance athlete to earn a trip to Eugene. Sable Lohmeier El-Bakri's personal best and school-record setting mark of 56.13m/184-2 in the discus put her in seventh and qualified her for Nationals as well.

Cierra Tidwell-Allphin finished in a six-way tie for first in the high jump, clearing three heights on her first try and finishing with a height of 1.81m/5-11.25. Claire Seymour clocked a 2:03.01 in the 800-meters, placing eighth overall but second in her heat to auto qualify and punch her ticket to Hayward. 

Halley Folsom Walker qualified for Nationals in the heptathlon coming out of the regular season, posting a personal-best and No. 4 all-time score of 5,699 at the Bryan Clay Invitational back in April that puts her at No. 14 nationally this season. Folsom Walker competed at the West Preliminary in the 400m hurdles last weekend as well. 

Men's Preview
No. 4 BYU men’s track and field is tied for second nationally with 12 entries advancing to compete at Hayward Field. Zach McWhorter, Caleb Witsken, Kenneth Rooks and Casey Clinger each enter the title meet ranked top-10 nationally in their respective events.

McWhorter, the nation’s second-ranked men’s pole vaulter, makes his second-straight outdoor nationals’ appearance after finishing ninth there a season ago. Witsken stands sixth nationally with a season-best clearance of 5.56m/18-2.75. Both BYU pole vaulters will seek to become the first Cougar to win an outdoor national championship in the event since Robison Pratt in 2005.

Rooks is ranked No. 4 nationally among men’s steeplechasers at 8:31.19 and is poised for his second-career outdoor nationals’ venture. The freshman from Walla Walla, Washington finished 11th at the 2019 National Championships prior to serving a full-time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Rooks will be joined in the steeplechase by teammate Garrett Marsing.

The BYU men’s distance group will be represented by Casey Clinger and Brandon Garnica in Eugene. Both athletes qualified to compete in the 10,000m, while Clinger will also run the 5000-meters. Clinger is ranked No. 8 nationally with a program, personal and season-best 5000m time of 13:23.33. Men’s distance coach Ed Eyestone competed in and won both 5000 and 10,000m national titles in 1985.

Decathlete Dallin Vorkink returns to nationals looking to improve on his 17th-place finish in 2021. Vorkink ranks No. 11 nationally in the decathlon with a personal-best total of 7,894 points.

Senior sprints and hurdles master Colten Yardley makes his third-career outdoor nationals’ appearance for the Cougars. Yardley will anchor the men’s 4x100-meter squad and be preceded in the race by Easton Bianchi, Jared Davis and Dallin Draper.

Sebastian Fernandez’s journey from walk-on to national title competitor continues at Hayward Field as the freshman from Andover, Minnesota competes in the 800m. Fernandez becomes the first BYU men’s athlete to do so since Shaquille Walker in 2016.

Michael Whittaker will take to the field to compete for the javelin national title as the Cougars’ lone men’s thrower in Eugene. Whittaker set a season and personal-best throw of 68.74/225-6 in his last time at Hayward Field at the Oregon Twilight on May 6.

After finishing 17th as a team in 2021, BYU will compete for its 37th all-time top-20 finish in hopes of its first top-10 finish since taking eighth in 2019.

BYU Schedule
Schedule is subject to change and will be updated following each day of competition. Track events will be televised and streamed on ESPN2, ESPNU or ESPN, while field events will be streamed on ESPN3. All times listed are PDT.