AUSTIN, Texas — No. 19 BYU women’s track and field saw three athletes advance to Saturday finals and two post Second Team All-American finishes as women’s competition opened at the 2023 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Mike A. Myers Stadium on Thursday night.

Claire Seymour and Meghan Hunter picked up where they left off at the west preliminary as the BYU duo finished together once again, this time to advance to the national women’s 800-meter final. Seymour and Hunter each advanced by holding off Imogen Barrett of Florida and Carley Thomas of Washington for time qualifying spots.

"They each had great race plans and executed them well to reach the finals," said BYU women's distance coach Diljeet Taylor. "It was a big day for BYU middle distance." 

Seymour took fourth in the semifinal at 2:01.24 while Hunter clocked a personal-best 2:01.53 to take fifth. Hunter fell to the back of the pack early in the third heat but surged into fifth with a strong finish down the final 200 meters.

Hunter fell to the back of the pack early in the third heat before surging hard in the final 200 meters to take time qualifying at 2:01.53 and a fifth-place finish.

"I went into the race just trying to have fun," Hunter said. "I knew if I just had fun and put forth my best effort, I could do it." 

The junior from Provo, Utah now ranks fifth all-time at BYU in the women’s outdoor 800m. With her comeback performance on Thursday, Hunter advances to her first-career national final. Seymour has now qualified for her second-career outdoor 800m national final.

Hunter and Seymour will vie for the 800m national title on Saturday at 9:14 p.m. CDT.

Lexy Halladay-Lowry ran a collegiate-meet best of 9:42.35 to take third in the 3,000-meter steeplechase semifinal. Halladay-Lowry set her overall collegiate career-best of 9:42.12 at the professional Sound Running Track Fest on May 6.

The junior from Boise, Idaho pulled to the front of the pack from the start of the second heat and stayed there to the finish, crossing just behind Notre Dame’s Olivia Markezich and national leader Greta Karinauskaite of Cal Baptist.

"Lexy perfectly executed her race plan," Taylor said. "She smoothly advanced to the final and I'm excited to see what she can do on Saturday." 

Halladay-Lowry now advances to her first-career national steeplechase final on Saturday at 8:24 p.m. CDT. Former BYU harrier Courtney Wayment won the 2022 women’s steeplechase championship. A national title for Halladay-Lowry on Saturday would give the Cougars their fifth all-time title in the event and become the third time in program history to win it in back-to-back seasons.

Aubrey Frentheway took 10th in the 10,000-meters final to earn Second Team All-America honors with a time of 33:45.29. Frentheway fell out of the front pack midway through the race and ran alone for much of the last eight laps. The senior from Cheyenne, Wyoming dug deep down the home stretch and closed at 1:20.17 to seize her top-10 spot.

"I'm so proud of her effort in a competitive race," Taylor said. "She put herself in the race and she's walking away satisfied with the culmination of the season." 

Despite falling short of first team accolades, Frentheway improved on her 22nd-place finish from a season ago and registered BYU’s first top-10 women’s 10,000m finisher since Cecily Lemmon-Lew in 2009. Frentheway is one of just six BYU women all-time to finish top-10 in the event.

Ashton Riner-Lunt fell short of defending her 2022 women’s javelin national title but still garnered Second Team All-America honors with a throw of 51.0m/167-4. Riner-Lunt concludes her Cougar career as just the second women’s javelin thrower in BYU history to record three-career (2018, 2022-23) outdoor All-American honors. Hui-Chen Lee was the last do so in 1987, 1989 and 1991.

Adaobi Tabugbo, Jaslyn Gardner, Dolita Shaw and Marianne Barber made BYU history on Thursday night as the first women’s 4x100-meter relay team in school history to reach outdoor nationals.

The quartet ran 44.60, finishing 20th overall and seventh in their heat. The Cougars finished nearly three seconds ahead of Alabama while also facing four top-10 ranked teams in Texas, LSU, Baylor and Florida. Host Texas clocked a collegiate record and world-leading 41.55 in the heat.

Despite coming short of advancing to the final, Tabugbo, the foursome also closes the season having twice broken the school record and achieved a top-25 national ranking.

Sami Oblad, Marianne Barber, Dolita Shaw and Brilee Pontius closed the night’s competition for the Cougars in the 4x400-meter relay. The squad finished 22nd at 3:39.56.

BYU men’s competition resumes Friday at 7:35 p.m. CDT with Dallin Shurts in the discus throw final. Tune-in to Shurts’ competition on ESPN+ or watch Kenneth Rooks and Casey Clinger in distance events on ESPN2 beginning at 8:24 p.m. CDT.

PROVO, Utah — No. 19 BYU women’s track and field will be represented by 11 athletes in eight entries across seven different events at the 2023 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Mike Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas June 7-10.

Complete BYU Event Schedule

The Cougars’ eight women’s entries are tied for 15th nationally with Iowa, NC State and Nebraska. BYU is one of just 17 programs with eight or more women’s entries. With 17 combined men’s and women’s entries, BYU track and field is tied for 13th nationally with 2024 conference counterpart Oklahoma. BYU is one of just 16 programs nationwide with 15 or more combined entries.

A season ago, BYU boasted two national champions in Ashton Riner-Lunt (javelin throw) and Courtney Wayment (3,000-meter steeplechase). Riner-Lunt and Wayment joined heptathlete Halley Folsom Walker in earning First Team All-American honors and scoring points that helped the Cougars finish tied for ninth as a team.

In 2023, BYU will seek its first sequence of three-consecutive top-10 team finishes since doing so 1998-2000.

Riner-Lunt and Wayment’s 2022 national title performances gave the Cougars 18 all-time women’s individual national champions and its sixth time to do so in back-to-back seasons after Anna Camp-Bennett took home the 1,500-meter hardware in 2021.

Riner-Lunt looks to become BYU’s fourth all-time repeat national champion and third to do so in consecutive seasons. Tiffany Lott-Hogan won the heptathlon in back-to-back seasons (1997-98) while Anna Mosdell did so in the discus throw (1991-92). Themis Zambrzycki, the program’s first-ever national champion, won the pentathlon in 1978 and again in 1980.

Austin has been kind to BYU in the past as the Cougars have seen three previous women’s championships won there. Zambrzycki won her second pentathlon there in 1980. Anu Kaljurand took home the heptathlon title from Austin in 1992 while Mosdell won her second straight discus title there that same season.

Ashton Riner-Lunt | Javelin Throw

• Senior | Connell, Washington | Connell HS
• PR: 60.36-meters/198-0 (April 2022, BYU Robison Invitational) 
• Season-best: 55.57m/182-4 (May 25 at NCAA West Preliminary)
• Finished fifth at the NCAA West Preliminary.
• Looks to defend her 2022 javelin national title (58.24m/191-1) in her third-career nationals' appearance. 
• Looks to become BYU's fourth all-time repeat women's outdoor national champion and first since Tiffany Lott-Hogan won the heptathlon in 1997-98. 
• Ranks No. 1 all-time at BYU in the women's javelin throw. 

Adaobi Tabugbo | 4x100m Relay

• Senior | Laurel, Maryland | Reservoir HS
• 100m PR: 11.77 (April 8 at Trojan Invitational)
• 200m PR: 24.01 (May 13 at BYU Last Chance Meet)
• 100H PR: 13.29 (May 27 at NCAA West Preliminary)
• Ranks No. 5 all-time at BYU in the women's outdoor 100-meter hurdles. 
• 2023 marks her first-career outdoor nationals' appearance.  
• Has contributed to four school record-setting 4x100m squads at BYU. 

Jaslyn Gardner | 4x100m Relay

• Junior | Enterprise, Utah | Enterprise HS
• 100m PR: 11.35 (April 2021 at BYU Robison Invitational)
• 200m PR: 23.47 (April 2021 at BYU Robison Invitational)
• Ranks No. 1 all-time at BYU in the outdoor women's 100m and No. 3 in the 200m. 
• 2023 marks her first-career outdoor nationals' appearance.  

Dolita Shaw | 4x100m Relay

• Sophomore | Grays, United Kingdom | Southend HS
• 100m PR: 12.04 (April 2022 at Desert Heat Classic)
• 200m PR: 24.06 (May 13 at BYU Last Chance Meet)
• 2023 marks her first-career outdoor nationals' appearance. 

Marianne Barber | 4x100m Relay and 4x400m Relay

• Freshman | Farmington, Utah | Farmington HS
• 100m PR: 11.74 (April 29 at Desert Heat Classic)
• 200m PR: 23.43 (May 13 at BYU Last Chance Meet) 
• 400m PR: 54.46 (April 22 at BYU Robison Invitational)
• While just a freshman, ranks No. 2 all-time at BYU in the women's outdoor 200m and No. 10 in the 400m. 
• Will serve a full-time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Yakima, Washington beginning in July 2023. 

Lexy Halladay-Lowry | 3,000m Steeplechase

• Sophomore | Boise, Idaho | Mountain View HS
• PR: 9:42.12 (May 6 at Sound Running Track Fest)
• Finished sixth at the NCAA West Preliminary with a time of 9:46.02. 
• Ranked No. 2 all-time at BYU in the women's steeplechase behind only defending national champion Courtney Wayment. 
• Ranks No. 6 nationally. 
• Looks to become BYU's fifth all-time women's steeplechase national champion. 
• 2023 marks her second straight outdoor nationals' appearance. 

 Claire Seymour | 800m and 4x400m Relay

• Senior | Modesto, California | Enochs HS
• 800m PR: 2:00.04 (April 14 at Bryan Clay Invitational)
• 400m PR: 53.69 (April 2022 at Bryan Clay Invitational)
• Finished ninth at the NCAA West Preliminary with a time of 2:04.75. 
• Ranks No.1 all-time at BYU in the women's outdoor 800m and No. 5 in the 400m. 
• Ranks second nationally in the 800m behind only Michaela Rose of No. 7 LSU. 
• Looks to become BYU's third all-time women's outdoor 800m champion and first since Nachelle Stewart-Mackie in 2012. 
• Joins Sarah Hendrick of Kennesaw State as one of two current athletes nationwide to qualify for both indoor and outdoor nationals in each of the last three seasons. 

Meghan Hunter | 800m and 4x400m Relay

• Junior | Provo, Utah | Provo HS
• 800m PR: 2:04.27 (May 2021 American Track League Meet)
• 400m PR: 53.81 (May 2022 at BYU Last Chance Meet)
• Ran 2:05.35 to finish 13th at the NCAA West Preliminary. 
• Ranks No. 6 all-time at BYU in the women's outdoor 400m. 
• 2023 marks her second-career outdoor nationals' appearance and first since 2021.  

Aubrey Frentheway | 10,000m

• Senior | Cheyenne, Wyoming | Cheyenne Central HS
• PR: 32:28.85 (May 25 at NCAA West Preliminary)
• Broke her own school record to finish fourth at the NCAA West Preliminary. 
• Ranks No. 9 nationally. 
• 2023 marks her second straight outdoor nationals' appearance. 
• Looks to become BYU's second all-time women's 10,000m national champion and first since Tara Northcutt-Rohatinsky in 2000.  

Brilee Pontius | 4x400m 

• Sophomore | Saratoga Springs, Utah | Westlake HS
• 200m PR: 24.21 (May 13 at BYU Last Chance Meet)
• 400m PR: 54.63 (May 2022 at BYU Last Chance Meet)
• 2023 marks her first-career national championship appearance.  

Cierra Tidwell Allphin | High Jump

• Junior | Gilbert, Arizona | Highland HS
• PR: 1.88m/6-2 (April 15 at Mt. SAC Relays)
• Cleared 1.82m/5-11.5 to tie for ninth at the NCAA West Preliminary. 
• Ranks No. 3 nationally.
• Tied for No. 2 all-time at BYU in the women's outdoor high jump with Melinda Hale (1994). 
• Looks to break Andrea Stapleton-Johnson's school record clearance of 1.89m/6-2.5 set in 2019. 
• 2023 marks her third-career outdoor nationals' appearance. 
• Looks to become BYU's first-ever women's high jumper to win a national title across indoor or outdoor competition.  

4x100m Relay Squad

•  Adaobi Tabugbo, Jaslyn Gardner, Dolita Shaw and Marianne Barber combined to clock a school-record 43.84, finish 10th at the NCAA West Preliminary and qualify for the program's first-ever women's 4x100m relay entry at outdoor nationals. 
• Tabugbo, Gardner, Barber and Emma Johnson previously broke the school record with a time of 44.57 at the Desert Heat Classic on April 29. 
• Ranked No. 20 nationally. 

4x400m Relay Squad

• Meghan Hunter, Marianne Barber, Brilee Pontius and Claire Seymour combined to clock a school-record 3:32.88, finish ninth at the NCAAA West Preliminary and advance to outdoor nationals. 
• Hunter and Seymour also powered the squad to its last school-record performance at the May 2021 regional meet in College Station, Texas. 
• BYU women's 4x400m relay squads have made two previous appearances at outdoor nationals, in 2021 and 2018. 
• Look to become BYU's first-ever women's 4x400m First Team All-Americans.