Cougars qualify 10 entries to NCAA Indoor Championships

PROVO, Utah – BYU track and field earned a total of 10 entries as the NCAA announced official qualifiers on Tuesday for the 2019 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships.

BYU’s Conner Mantz, All-American Connor McMillan and All-American Clayton Young will represent the men’s team in both the 3000m and 5000m. Young broke the school record in the 5000m this season at the Iowa State Classic with a time of 13:34.46. In that same race, McMillan and Mantz finished behind Young for the No. 2 (13:38.63) and No. 3 (13:39.27) times in school history, respectively. 

Qualifying for her third NCAA Indoor Championships meet, All-American Andrea Stapleton-Johnson will head into Nationals atop the NCAA Division I rankings in the high jump. The senior’s qualifying mark of 1.87m/6-1.5 also earned her the No. 2 mark all-time at BYU.

Erica Birk-Jarvis will compete in the 3000m for the women’s team at Nationals. The All-American’s qualifying time of 9:00.69 came at the Iowa State Classic where she also set a new BYU record time in the event.

For the second year in a row, All-American Whittni Orton will make an appearance in the mile at the NCAA Indoor Championships. The junior earned first-team All-America honors in the mile last year with a seventh-place finish at the 2018 NCAA Indoor Championships.

The women’s team will also have four athletes competing on a relay team in the distance medley relay (DMR). BYU qualified a women’s DMR team for the second-straight year after a team consisting of Birk-Jarvis, Alena Ellsworth, Lauren Ellsworth-Barnes and Orton ran the fourth-fastest time in the nation (10:56.51) while also breaking the school record. The Cougars will finalize which four athletes will compete on the relay team closer to the NCAA Championship meet.

The 2019 NCAA Indoor Championships will be hosted at the CrossPlex in Birmingham, Alabama, March 8-9. A full list of athlete entries can be found along with the general meet information on ncaa.com.