BYU Out In Front at MWC Championships

FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- After three days of competition and one full day of running and field events the BYU men’s track team finds itself in first place with 87 points at the Mountain West Conference Championships.

With 87 points the Cougars lead by 26 points over New Mexico with 61 points and Colorado State with 49.50.

“I think we are in really good shape and today was a lot of fun,” head coach Mark Robison said. “We did a lot better in some places than I thought we would and overall I was pleased with our day.”

Senior Leif Arrhenius continued his dominant senior campaign with a win in the discus throw. Arrhenius threw 59.11m (193-11.00) for the victory and also finished third in the hammer throw with a toss of 61.07m (200-04.00).

Also competing in the hammer, senior Oliver Whaley edged out his teammate for a second place finish with a mark of 61.77m (202-08.00).

Second and third place finishes were the theme of the day for BYU with multiple athletes in different events nabbing the runner-up and third spots. Senior Reagan Frey (9:06.79) and junior Josh Adams (9:09.68) took second and third in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.

In the 10,000 meters freshman Jared Ward finished in second with a time of 32:44.13 and senior Nathan Ogden finished right behind him in 32:49.39.

Both the high jump and long jump featured two-three finishes again. Senior Trevor Heiner finished second in the high jump, clearing 2.11m (6-11.00) and freshman Zachary Blackham had a quality jump of 2.07m (6-09.50) for third. In the long jump, senior Aaron Powell (7.17m, 23-06.25) finished second and freshman Drew Tingey (7.16m, 23-06.00) got third place.

Three Cougars qualified for tomorrow’s finals in the 400-meter. Sophomores Cade Lindahl (47.61) and James Derek McAllister (48.15) along with junior Steven Hart (48.27) finished in the top eight to move on. In the 800-meter three more will move on as well, including juniors Miles Batty (1:50.07), Justin Hedin (1:50.11) and senior Brian Weirich (1:50.36). All three were members of the indoor national champion distance medley relay team.

In the sprints BYU had McAllister finishing ninth in the 200-meter in 21.78, just missing the top eight to race tomorrow and junior James Ghormley took ninth in the 100-meter with a time of 10.89, missing the opportunity to advance by one one-hundredth of a second.

Tomorrow’s final day of competition will see several of today’s athletes in their finals as well as many other Cougars competing in events including the pole vault, 1500-meter and 4x400-meter relay. Action begins at 11:00 a.m. MT and will conclude at approximately 3:30 p.m. MT.

For complete results from today’s events CLICK HERE.