STANFORD, Calif. — BYU women’s track and field opened its outdoor season with two event wins and valuable early experience for its freshmen at the Cardinal Classic at Cobb Track and Angell Field on Saturday.

“We are super grateful for Stanford welcoming us into their meet after our original outdoor opener was cancelled,” said BYU sprints coach Kyle Grossarth. “Our athletes performed very well after being away from competition for a few weeks. This was a solid start to the outdoor season.”

BYU’s throwers dominated the javelin competition led by defending national champion Ashton Riner-Lunt. The senior from Connell, Washington kept to her winning ways with a first-place finish after tossing 52.89m/173-6.

Jessica Thompson took second at 47.10m/154-6 with Brekell Gammell (45.14m/148-1) and Mary DeGraffenried (42.74m/140-2) coming in third and fifth, respectively. Gammell, a freshman from Salem, Utah; and DeGraffenried, a freshman from Kanosh, Utah each made their collegiate throwing debuts for the Cougars on Saturday. Thompson won BYU’s second event of the day in the shot put with a throw of 15.26m/50-0.75.

Adaobi Tabugbo took second in both the 200-meters and 100-meter hurdles. At 13.63, Tabugbo came up just a tenth of a second short of her personal-best in the 200.

Meghan Hunter, Dolita Shaw, Krystie Solomon and Marianne Barber combined to clock 3:43.66 and finish third in the 4x400-meter relay. Hunter also took second in the 800-meters at 2:04.48.

BYU’s distance runners controlled the top of the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a finisher in each of the top-four spots. Lizzie Dildine took first at 10:40.00, with Destiny Everett, Allie Warner and Julie Sumsion taking places two through four.

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

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..

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.