First Day in New York a Success

NEW YORK -- The New Balance Invitational in New York City got under way today, and the No. 3 ranked BYU women’s track and field team started the meet off with a bang.

“We did pretty well here for the first day,” said women’s track head coach Craig Poole. “The competition here is world class, as good as you can get at the college level. We held our own and had some strong performances.”

Senior Mindy McClurkin continued her success in two events, placing fifteenth in the 60-meters Championship division with a time of 7.50, and finishing the day by winning the long jump with the third-best distance in the nation at 6.44m.

In the Championship division of the 1000-meters, the Cougars found their best event of the day, coming away with three of the top five spots. Sophomore Sarah Edwards won the event in 2:48.50, followed by sophomore Sarah Yingling in second at 2:50.01 and Nicole Clark in fifth at 2:51.34.

Another prominent event for the women was the 5000-meters, with junior Katie Bowen placing fourth in 16:46.21 and sophomore Katy Andrews coming in just behind her in fifth at 16:52.05.

“Tomorrow will be a big day for us,” Poole said. “It’s a whole new set of events, and we get a few more chances to get some qualifying marks and improve as a team.”

Other Cougars placing in the top six of their events were sophomore Diana Blaur, who took third in the college division of the high jump at 1.70m, freshman Rachel Brooke Fisher who finished fifth in the championship pole vault division at a provisional qualifying 4.10m and the distance medley relay team of Angela Wagner, Natalie Stewart, Nachelle Stewart and Lacey Cramer, which finished sixth in the championship division with a time of 11:10.89.

The meet continues through tomorrow, starting at 10:00 a.m. MST and concluding tentatively at 3:47 MST.