Cougars Head East to Compete at Dr. Sander Invite

PROVO, Utah — The BYU track & field team heads east to compete at the Dr. Sander Invitational against some of the nation’s top squads on Thursday.

Among the field are No. 8 South Carolina (women) No. 14/23 UCLA (men’s/women’s), Ohio State, Penn State, Duke, Syracuse, UConn and many schools from the Ivy League. 

The Cougars are coming off a win for the women and a second-place finish for the men at the Air Force Invitational in Colorado Springs this past weekend. The women also are coming off a win against regional foe, 12th-ranked Colorado.

The women’s team features multiple athletes that are nationally ranked. Whittni Orton is currently third in the country in the women’s 1500m after breaking the school record earlier in the season with a time of 15:22.98.

Jaslyn Gardner, the school-record holder in the women’s 60m dash, is ranked 26th in the country with her school-record time of 7.39. Claire Seymour (1:14.82) is currently 21st in the 500m and freshman Cierra Tidwell (1.76m) is currently 12th in the high jump. No. 7 on the BYU all-time list Sierra Freeland (15.28m) comes in at 33 in the women’s shot put as well.

On the men’s side, multi-event heptathlete Brian Matthews (5,581 points) currently sits at No. 2 in the nation. Matthews also is fourth all-time at BYU in the heptathlon. Cougar heptathletes Caleb Witsken (5,183) and Dallin Vorkink (5,098) are also in the top-25 in the country at No. 16 and 19, respectively.

Freshman Zach McWhorter (5.55m) is ranked fourth in the country in the men’s pole vault and second all-time at BYU. Teammate Alex Rios (5.27m) is currently No. 14 nationally in the pole vault as well.

Other nationally ranked individuals are senior team captain Rickey Fantroy Jr. (15.44m) at No. 30 in the men’s triple jump, Michael Bluth at No. 6 (33.35) in the 300m and Colten Yardley (33.55) at No. 12 in the 300m.

Follow BYU track and field on Twitter and Instagram @BYUTFXC for team updates. Live results can be found on the BYU track and field schedule page on the day of the meet. The schedule of events and meet information can be found on gocolumbialions.com.