SAN DIEGO – A rain-shortened schedule did not prevent the BYU women’s track and field team from producing several personal best marks at the first meet of the outdoor season.

“It rained so much that the drainage system on the track overflowed and caused some flooding in the competition area,” BYU head coach Patrick Shane said. “We did not get to compete as much as we wanted, but we still had some great performances and personal bests.”

Junior Allyson Anderson had the best performance of the day when she topped her javelin personal record by nearly three meters with a toss of 49.82m (163-05). She finished first in the event. Amber Huntington placed fourth with a throw of 43.28m (142-00). 

Also setting a new personal record was sophomore Martha Shephard. Shephard placed eighth in the hammer throw with a toss of 53.17m (174-05).

In the pole vault, Rachel Fisher competed for the first time in over a year. Fisher led BYU with a third place finish in the event with a vault of 3.87m (12-8.25). Diana McAllister Perry and Nicole Naatjes tied for sixth with a jump of 3.72m (12-2.50).

Taylor Stapley led the way in the high jump with a third place finish with a mark of 1.65m (5-5.00). Ada Robinson placed sixth with a jump of 1.60m (5-3.00) and Diana Blauer took 11th with a leap of 1.55m (5-1.00).

“Taylor is really on a roll,” Shane said. “She performed great during the indoor season and is off to a good start here in outdoor.”

Melissa Keltner finished fourth in the triple jump with a leap of 5.57m (18-3.25).

On the track, Angela Shields and Brooke Jensen both finished the 100m hurdles in 15.61 while Kassie Jensen nabbed third in the 100m in 12.27.

Results from the invitational can be found here.

BYU will head back to California on March 23 to compete in the USC Invitational.  

PROVO, Utah – One week after competing at the NCAA Indoor Championships, the BYU men’s and women’s track and field teams will head to the San Diego State Invitational to open the outdoor season.

“This first meet gives our athletes a chance to work out the kinks early in the outdoor season,” BYU women’s head coach Patrick Shane said. “Our javelin and hammer throwers, along with our 400m hurdlers, have been looking forward to this meet all season since we can’t compete in those events indoors.”

BYU will face off against teams from Cal State Fullerton, Hawaii, Long Beach State, Minnesota, North Dakota State, UC Riverside, Southern Utah, UC Irvine, UC San Diego, UNLV, Utah, Utah Valley and Weber State. Several club teams will also compete at the meet.

On the women’s side, sophomore Rachel Fisher will compete for the first time in over a year. Fisher was an indoor All-American as a freshman before dealing with injuries throughout the past few semesters.

None of the athletes that competed at the indoor nationals will travel with the team to San Diego. They will all open their outdoor seasons later in the year.

Competition begins on Friday at 9:00 a.m. PST with the men’s heptathlon. The men’s 4x400m relay will conclude the meet at 5:10 p.m. on Saturday.

Live results are available at flashwest.com.