Cougars earn all-time marks, Olympian breaks record at Robison Invitational

PROVO, Utah – Olympian Jeff Henderson broke the Clarence F. Robison Complex record in the long jump while Alyssa Dalton and Scott Mecham highlighted a group of BYU athletes that earned spots on BYU’s all-time record list at the Robison Invitational on Saturday.

“We had some people hit regional marks and had others improve regional marks,” said head coach Ed Eyestone. “It just shows that our athletes perform well at the Robison Invitational when they’re at home in front of friends and family.”

Eyestone was particularly excited that Mecham ran like a “madman” on his way to a first-place finish in the 400m hurdles with a time of 50.15. Mecham’s mark gives him the No. 5 time in both BYU history and current national NCAA rankings.

Dalton improved her career-best in the 100m hurdles after clocking a 13.20 to rank No. 4 all-time at BYU. Nicole Lord joined Dalton on BYU’s top-10 list at No. 9 for the 100m hurdles finishing with a personal-best time of 13.64.

The Cougars had their stadium record broken in the long jump by 2016 Olympic gold medalist, Henderson. On his last attempt, Henderson jumped 8.44m to break the record of 8.40m previously set during the 1989 NCAA Championships hosted at Clarence F. Robison Complex. His mark ranks No. 1 in the world this year in the long jump.

“People didn’t know that I was coming or that I was jumping, so it made it more exciting,” Henderson said. “This is my first time ever to compete here and I liked it. Smaller meets are good cause I work on the small things.”

Freshman phenom Ashton Riner continued her first-year dominance by moving up on the school’s all-time list for the third time this season. Riner’s first throw of the day sailed 52.37m and was enough to boost her to No. 2 all-time.

Seth Knowlton put himself in position to qualify for regionals with a career-best 54.56m in the discus. Teammate Kevin Nielsen competed in the decathlon and earned a personal-best 7475 points to put himself in contention to compete at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

Ellie Heiden-Quackenbush ran her way onto two BYU top-10 lists on Saturday. She first clocked a 54.49 in the 400m for No. 7 all-time and then followed that performance running a 23.91 in the 200m for No. 10 all-time. Fellow sprinter Keesha Miller also broke into the school’s top times with the ninth fastest time of 11.71 in the 100m.

Andrea Stapleton-Johnson broke her previous record in the high jump with a clearance of 1.85m and is now tied for fourth all-time at BYU. Tomi Adegoke gave himself a chance to qualify for regionals in the long jump with a career mark of 7.44m and Jake Jarvis is on the bubble to qualify in the pole vault with a personal-best of 5.15m.

The men’s relay teams clocked season-bests today with the 4x100 team running 40.17, a mark that usually qualifies for regionals, and the 4x400 team finishing the meet with a 3:10.56.

The Cougars will travel for the last time this outdoor regular season to compete at the Sacramento State Open on Saturday, May 5. BYU track and field will then return home the following week for the Last Chance Meet leading up to the NCAA West Preliminary.

For the official results of the Robison Invitational, click here.