Witt takes third at NCAAs; Walker, Flint and 4x400 team advance

EUGENE, Oregon – Jason Witt capped his BYU track career with a third-place finish in the 10,000 meter final at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships Wednesday.

"Altogether, this was a superb day for us," BYU head coach Ed Eyestone said. "Things went mostly according to plan and we had some pleasant surprises"

Witt bounced between first and third place the entire race. With two and a half laps to go, Witt, along with Oregon's Edward Cheserek and Eric Jenkins, turned it into a three-man race. Cheserek and Jenkins pulled away to take first and second, and Witt followed with a time of 29:04.58. Spencer Gardner, who joined Witt in the race, finished 16th overall to claim Second-Team All-America honors with a time of 29:59.02.

"Witt executed a perfect game plan," Eyestone said. "He did a great job of staying with Cheserek and Jenkins, and held everyone else off. Spencer also ran a great race and it was great to see him earn All-America honors."

Shaquille Walker and Steve Flint both qualified for the finals of their respective events. Walker coasted to a third place finish in the 800m with a time of 1:46.24. Flint placed fourth in the 3000 steeplechase with the ninth-best performance (8:41.18) in BYU history in that event. Both will race in the finals on Friday.

The Cougars' 4x400m team, consisting of Mario Harper, Sean Adams, Jesse White and Walker, will also race on Friday, finishing second in their heat with a time 3:04.94. Walker held off a pack of teams vying for second place.

With a time of 51.83 in the 400m hurdles, Mark Carlson took 21st overall and failed to qualify for the final. Braydon Bringhurst was unable to clear his opening height in the pole vault final.

Flint competes at 4:57 p.m. PDT Friday, Walker competes at 5:50 p.m, and the 4x400m team competes at 6:50 p.m.