Cougars head to NCAA Championships with 22 entries

PROVO, Utah – No. 4/15 BYU track and field will compete at the 2019 NCAA DI Outdoor Track & Field Championships June 5-8.

Full Meet Notes

"I think we're in a good frame of mind," BYU head coach Ed Eyestone said. "It is important to focus on the process and the things that got us here. The athletes recognize the importance of this meet and are focused on getting the job done."

The Cougars secured 21 entries at the NCAA West Preliminaries to go along with decathlete Brian Matthews to total 22 bids to the 2019 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Mike A. Myers Track and Soccer Stadium in Austin, Texas.

No. 4 BYU men’s track and field

The BYU men’s team has 16 total entries for the third-most men’s bids at Nationals. The men will primarily compete Wednesday, June 5, and Friday, June 7, with the decathlon will taking place June 5-6.

Matthews will start the meet off for the Cougars in the decathlon on Wednesday afternoon in the 100m, long jump, shot put, high jump and 400m. He’ll finish up on Thursday with the 110m hurdles, discus throw, pole vault, javelin and 1500m.

The NCAA record-breaking six BYU 10,000m runners will race in their final Wednesday night and will make up one-fourth of the field. Dallin Farnsworth, Rory Linkletter, Conner Mantz, Connor McMillan, Connor Weaver and Clayton Young combined to break the NCAA record for most entries in a single event from one school. The previous record was set by BYU in 1975 when the team sent five decathletes to the NCAA Championships.

Jacob Heslington, Matt Owens, Kenneth Rooks and Clayson Shumway will run in the men’s 3000m steeplechase semifinal on Wednesday. Talem Franco will compete in the men’s 1500m semifinal on Wednesday to give the Cougars 11 men’s distance runners at Nationals.

The men’s 4x400m will finish up Wednesday’s competition with their semifinal. The relay team consists of Michael Bluth, Blake Ellis, Abram Schaap and Colten Yardley. All qualifiers from the semifinals will race again on Friday.

On Friday, Rickey Fantroy Jr. will compete in the men’s triple jump final. Fantroy Jr. qualified for the NCAA Championships with a career-best 15.55m/51-0.25 on his final attempt to secure the final entry.

Mantz and Young double-qualified for the NCAA Championships and will race in the men’s 5000m final Friday evening. This is the third-straight outdoor season that Young has double-qualified for Nationals in both the 5000m and 10,000m.

No. 15 BYU women’s track and field

The BYU women’s team enters the meet with six total bids at the NCAA Championships. The women will primarily compete Thursday, June 6, and Saturday, June 8.

Five Cougars will compete in their respective semifinals on Thursday. Whittni Orton will make her third-straight appearance in the women’s 1500m at the NCAA Championships and will be followed by Erica Birk-Jarvis in the 3000m steeplechase. Anna Camp-Bennett and Lauren Ellsworth-Barnes will run in the 800m semifinal before Brenna Porter will cap off the evening in the 400m hurdles. For those that advance, all four finals will take place on Saturday.

Andrea Stapleton-Johnson will compete in the women’s high jump final Saturday. The senior enters the meet ranked No. 1 in the NCAA this season with a clearance of 1.89m/6-2.25.

The table below contains a more detailed schedule of when the Cougars compete. ESPN will provide primary broadcast coverage for the four-day meet. A full schedule listing what events will be broadcast on which ESPN network can be found here. Live results and general meet information can be found on ncaa.org. Follow @BYUTFXC on Twitter or @byutrackfieldxc on Instagram for team updates throughout the meet.

Wednesday, June 5

Thursday, June 6

Friday, June 7

Saturday, June 8

* -- If qualified