BYU perseveres through weather with strong performance

PROVO, Utah— Despite weather conditions and tough competition, the BYU track and field had strong performances and solid marks at the 2016 Clarence Robison Invitational.

“We were a little nervous about the weather going into the meet, but we were able to get our races in,” BYU track and field head coach Ed Eyestone said. “The fact of the matter is when we go to championship style races the conditions are poor as well, so I think we learned the importance of whatever the conditions we need to man or woman up against the conditions. When you do that you usually end of competing and hitting pretty good marks in spite of the conditions. I was inspired that none of our athletes looked at the conditions and let that be an excuse.”

Erin Merkley and Jackson Walker started out the meet strongly winning the their individual multi events. Merkley battled her way through the heptathlon events after suffering from a stomach virus. She ended with a score of 5068. Walker placed in the top three in each decathlon event to take first place with a score of 7403.

Ashleigh Warner and Chase Horrocks were the top competitors in the women’s and men’s one-mile race. Warner placed first with a time of 4:56.76. Eyestone said she ran a tactical race and pushed at the end to secure the first place time. Horrocks competed against some strong competitors who race under four minutes, but he was able to pull forward at the end to place second overall with a time of 4:07.04.

Other top male competitors include Connor Ross (800 meters), Tatenda Tsumba (200 meters), and Zachary Blackham (high jump). Ross placed first in the men’s 800 meter with a commanding performance and a time of 1:51.64. Tsumba won the men’s 200-meter race with a time of 20.95 which places him in the top 30 on the west coast. Blackham jumped a new personal best in the high jump with a mark of 7’3”.

On the women’s side, Alyssa Monteverde-Dalton (100 meter hurdles), Andrea Stapleton (high jump), and Chloe Richardson (long jump) all had strong performances in their respective events. Monteverde-Dalton placed first in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 13.49. Stapleton jumped a first place mark of 1.77 meters. Richardson marked two personal bests in the triple jump (12.23 meters) and the long jump (5.85 meters).

To view a full list of results, go to byucougars.com.

Next week the team splits up again and heads to Philadelphia, PA for the Penn Relays and Boise, Idaho for the Utah-Idaho Borderclash.