More than 20 Cougars earn regional qualifying marks in California

TORRANCE, Calif. – BYU track and field competed in three various meets this past week in California and returned home with more than 20 athletes earning or solidifying potential regional qualifying marks.

“It was an outstanding three days for us and all of our groups did amazingly well,” BYU head coach Ed Eyestone said. “It was a long three days, but the number of regional qualifiers we have at this point rivals what we’ve had in the past. Now we’ll just keep building on it from here until the NCAA West Prelims.”

BYU’s distance runners primarily competed in the Mt. SAC Relays and the Bryan Clay Invitational while field athletes competed in the Beach Invitational and the Mt. SAC Relays.

Mt. SAC Relays

Connor Weaver (29:24.08) and Michael Ottesen (29:32.11) got things started for the Cougars at the Mt. SAC Relays after running career-bests in the 10000m. Both runners’ times put them in contention to be in the top-48 marks in the region and qualify for the NCAA West Prelims.

BYU had three runners earn spots on the school’s all-time record book in the 5000m. Rory Linkletter clocked a 13:37.98 to earn the No. 7 mark all-time, Connor McMillan ran a 13:39.95 to earn the No. 8 mark all-time and Daniel Carney ran a 13:39.95 to take the No. 9 mark all-time. All three runners and teammate Conner Mantz (13:52.12) put themselves in position to qualify for regionals.

Alyssa Dalton clocked a 13.62 competing in the 100m hurdles for the first time this season and has already put herself in contention to qualify for regionals. Dalton also ran on the women’s 4X400 relay team with Cassidy Pinnock, Lauren Rawlinson and Ellie Heiden-Quackenbush that earned a potential regional-qualifying time with a season-best 3:38.34.

Abraham Alvarado put himself in position to qualify for the NCAA West Prelims in both the 800m and 1500m. He clocked a 3:41.86 in the 1500m on Friday at the Bryan Clay Invitational and then followed up with a 1:48.05 in the 800m less than 24 hours later at the Mt. SAC Relays. Teammates Patrick Parker (3:44.03) and Matt Owens (3:44.83) joined Alvarado with times in the 1500m under-the-average regional qualifying times.

Bryan Clay Invitational

The BYU men’s team increased its number of athletes in position to qualify for regionals in the 3000m steeplechase to eight after Cade Perry ran a career-best 8:58.43 at the Bryan Clay Invitational. The women’s team increased their number to four possible regional qualifiers in the 3000m steeplechase after Olivia Hoj (10:20.53) and Emma Gee (10:24.33) ran career-bests at the Bryan Clay Invitational.

Ashleigh Warner solidified her regional-qualifying position in the 5000m at the Bryan Clay Invitational with a career-best 15:59.95. Finishing soon after Warner, Maddie Cannon put herself into position to also qualify for regionals in the 5000m with a personal-best 16:22.09.

Avery Walker ran a career-best 2:07.41 in the 800m to put her in position to qualify for regionals while teammate Claire Seymour is on the bubble after earning a personal-best 2:08.56. Anna Camp solidified her position to qualify for regionals with a collegiate-best 4:20.31 in the 1500m and Kate Hunter put herself into qualifying position with a personal-best 4:21.30.

Beach Invitational

Freshman Ashton Riner solidified her position to qualify for regionals with a career-best 50.94m in the javelin at the Beach Invitational. With this throw, Riner moved up to No. 4 on BYU’s all-time records in the javelin, beating her previous personal-best of 48.13m.

Jefferson Jarvis earned a personal-best in the shot put with a toss of 18.25m to solidify his qualification for regionals at the Beach Invitational on Saturday. It was the second time Jarvis improved his qualifying position this past week after he threw for 17.56m on Thursday at the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate.

Jacob Foutz improved his chances to qualify for regionals in the hammer throw with a personal-best 59.94m. This mark is right on the bubble compared to the marks of previous years’ qualifiers in the hammer throw with 59.34m being the average minimum from the past five years.

The Cougars will return home and host the Robison Invitational April 26-28 at the Clarence F. Robison Track and Field Complex in Provo, Utah.

For the official results from the Mt. SAC Relays, click here.
For the official results from the Bryan Clay Invitational, click here.
For the official results from the Beach Invitational, click here.