BYU Track and Field announce the 2018 Curtis Pugsley Athlete of the Year Award finalists

PROVO, Utah – BYU track and field announced that Rory Linkletter, Abraham Alvarado, Whittni Orton and Brenna Porter have been nominated as finalists for the 2018 Curtis Pugsley Athlete of the Year Award.

These athletes were nominated based on their performances during the 2018 indoor and outdoor track and field seasons. The Curtis Pugsley Award is BYU track and field’s highest recognition and is given every year to one male and one female athlete. The award is named in honor of former BYU track and field athlete (2000-2004), Curtis Pugsley, who passed away in 2013 after his battle with cancer. During his time at BYU, Pugsley earned multiple All-America honors and won a conference championship in the decathlon.

Linkletter received first-team All-America honors in the 2018 indoor season after taking sixth place overall in the 5000m (14:16.88) at the NCAA Indoor Championships. He broke BYU’s indoor record in the 5000m after clocking a time of 13:41.01 at the Iowa State Classic. The junior won the 3000m at the MPSF Indoor Championships with a career-best time of 7:54.29. Linkletter was named a first-team All-American in the outdoor season after his eighth-place finish overall in the 5000m (13:58.20) at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. He also received All-America honorable mention for finishing 24th in the 10,000m (31:37.69). The All-American qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships after winning the 10,000m (29:14.20) and the placing 10th in the 5000m(13:51.28) at the NCAA West Preliminary Round.

A transfer student form Cal State Stanislaus, Alvarado was named a first-team All-American in the 800m after his fifth-place finish (1:47.55) at the NCAA Indoor Championships. The All-American won the MPSF Indoor Championships in the mile with a career-best time of 4:02.70. During the outdoor season, Alvarado ran a career-best and the seventh-best time in BYU history in the 1500m (3:41.17) for a seventh-place finish at the Stanford Invitational. He won the 800m (1:52.04) at the Pepsi Invitational and took third (3:14.10) with the 4x400m relay team. Alvarado finished 14th overall in in the 800m quarterfinal (1:49.00) at the NCAA West Prelims.

Orton was named a first-team All-American during the 2018 indoor season after her seventh-place finish in the mile (4:35.44) at the NCAA Indoor Championships. The All-American took seventh in the 800m (2:08.71) at the MPSF Indoor Championships and took first in the mile with a career-best time of 4:34.88 at the Iowa State Classic. Orton received All-America honorable mention for her performance in the outdoor season after taking 19th in the 1500 prelims (4:17.84) at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. She finished eighth in the 1500m at the NCAA West Prelims with a career-best time of 4:14.41.

During the indoor season, Porter was named a first-team All-American after an eighth-place finish (11:07.60) with the distance medley relay team at the NCAA Indoor Championships. She finished sixth in the 4x400m relay (3:44.25) and 10th in the 400m with a career-best time of 54.89 at the MPSF Indoor Championships. Porter placed second in the 4x400m (3:44.29) and clocked another career-best time of 2:08.20 in the 800m at the Iowa State Classic. During the outdoor season, the junior earned All-America honorable mention for her finishing 18th in the 400m hurdles (58.99) and 20th in the 4x400m relay (3:39.14) at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. She advanced to the NCAA Championships after her third-place finish and career-best time of 57.18 in the 400m hurdles. Porter placed first in both the 400m hurdles (58.83) and the 4x400m relay (3:41.38) at the Oregon Pepsi Invitational.

Linkletter and Shea Collinsworth won the 2017 Curtis Pugsley Award. The two All-Americans were joined by Clayton Young and Andrea Stapleton-Johnson as finalists for the award.

The winner is determined by a scoring system based on accomplishments in the 2018 indoor and outdoor seasons. Points are awarded for performance at indoor and outdoor championships, All-America recognition, school records set or broken and BYU top-10 placement. The winner will be announced at the award ceremony held at 7 p.m. in room 251 in the Tanner Building on Nov. 27. BYUtv’s Jason Shepherd will be emceeing the event. A reception will be held at 6:30 p.m. prior to the ceremony.