Stapleton, Miller, Tsumba set career bests in Colorado

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado – Andrea Stapleton, Keesha Miller and Tatenda Tsumba set new career bests in their respective events after the BYU men’s and women’s teams debuted in their first away meet of the indoor season at the Air Force Invitational.

“It was a great meet this week and each day there was exciting things happening,” said BYU head coach Ed Eyestone. "There were personal bests and season bests in many of the events. All around we saw people improving and competing very well." 

Stapleton marked a career best of 1.84m (6’ 0.50”) in the high jump and placed second overall. With this mark, she will be tied for sixth place on the BYU top-10 records for high jump with Lindsey Steele Metcalf. Stapleton’s previous career best was a 1.80m (5’ 10.75”) at last weekend’s BYU Cougar Indoor Invitational.

Eyestone said Stapleton achieved two different personal records this meet and jumped over six feet for the first time in her career. 

"She did a great job at the meet and it was exciting to see her clear the six-foot mark for her first time. Another exciting part about her reaching those marks is that she essentially punched herself a ticket to the Indoor Nationals," said Eyestone. 

High jumpers Marissa Appiah and Lyndsay Yetter also placed, tying for third with marks of 1.70m (5’ 7”).

Sophomore Keesha Miller also marked a new career best in the 60-meter run with a time of 7.57. Miller will also be tied for sixth place on the BYU top-10 records with Amy Menlove. Her new time is six-hundredths of a second faster than her previous time of 7.63.

The women’s pentathlon was highlighted with BYU’s Halley Folsom who finished second overall with a total score of 3,546. This score is only 15 points shy of her career best of 3,561.

Chloe Hadley and Kassie Nagel each placed fourth in their respective events. Hadley jumped for a mark of 11.86m (38’ 11”) in the triple jump and Nagel threw for a mark of 13.22m (43’ 4.50”) in the shot put.

On the men’s side, Tatenda Tsumba finished second for the men’s 60-meter run and first place in the men’s 200-meter run. Tsumba’s time for the 60-meter run was a career best of 6.76, six-hundredths of a second faster than his previous career best of 6.82. His time in the 200-meter run was 21.21 seconds and sets a new season best. Both of his times are potential qualifying marks for the NCAA Indoor National Championships.

Zachary Blackham tallied a mark of 2.17m (7’ 1.50”), ranking first overall in the men’s high jump. The senior returns for his final year in indoor track and field after a successful 2016 indoor season that included an appearance at the NCAA Indoor Championships.

Victor Weirich, a volunteer pole vault coach for BYU has been traveling with the team to compete in various meets. This week he reached a mark of 5.70m (18' 8.25"). Eyestone said he is one of the best in the world right now and it has been great to have him with the team.

Sophomore Babatomiwa Adegoke finished first place in the long jump at 7.29m (23’ 11”). Freshman Jesus Serrano had a strong performance in the men’s 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.20 seconds and came in third overall while junior Max Scheible came in right behind him in fourth with a time of 8.40. Scheible also registered a time of 49.19 in the 400-meter run to come in second overall.

Kevin Nielsen and Jackson Walker took first and second in the men’s indoor heptathlon. Throughout the seven events of the heptathlon, Nielsen led the athletes in points after each of the final six events.

Nielsen had first place performances in the long jump and high jump. Walker finished first in the 1,000-meter race and pole vault. The teammates were 158 points away from each other with Nielsen ending the event with a score of 5,412 and Walker with 5,254 points.

The teams will head to Seattle, Washington, for the UW Invitational next Friday, Jan. 28, and Saturday, Jan. 29.

For a full list of results from this weekend's meet, click here.