Tsumba, Monteverde shine at Air Force Invitational

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado –Tatenda Tsumba and Anginae Monteverde set new season bests in their respective events as both BYU men’s and women’s track and field teams showed well at the Air Force Invitational Thursday through Saturday.

“I thought it was a very nice meet for us,” BYU head coach Ed Eyestone said. “We had great performances all around, particularly with our pole vaulters and 400-meter group on both our men’s and women’s sides.”

Zachary Stetler started things off well for the Cougars Saturday morning taking first place in the shot put with a final throw of 18.16 meters.

“Stetler gave a clutch performance because he started the event throwing well, then got passed by a couple guys,” Eyestone said. “In his final throw of the competition, he was sitting in third place, but uncorked a good one and won the competition.”

In the men’s 400-meter finals, BYU took first, second and third with Sean Adams taking the victory in 48.21 seconds. Adams was followed by Max Scheible and Korey Smith. Adams has placed first in an event in all three meets so far this season.

Tatenda Tsumba continued his improvement in the long jump and 200 meters placing first and third, respectively.

“He jumped very well,” Eyestone said. “Each week seems to be a little better with him. I was particularly impressed with how he ran the 200 meters.”

Tsumba’s set a season-best in the long jump with a mark of 7.25 meters. His time of 21.73 in the 200 meters was the fastest of all Division I competitors at the meet.

Nicole Laws put in another strong performance placing first in the 60-meter hurdles with a season-best time of 8.55. Laws also placed fourth overall in the pentathlon.

Anginae Monteverde took first among college athletes in the pole vault. After not clearing the opening height on her first two vault attempts, Monteverde overcame the slow start and finished strong clearing 4.05 meters.

“That was a great mark for Anginae,” Eyestone said. “She’s going to continue to jump better and better with each meet. Indoor is difficult for the pole-vaulters. In outdoors, each runway is consistent and looks the same. With indoors, each venue is diverse and different and requires great adaptation. Anginae showed that today.”

Elise Machen and Sierra Hansen were not far behind placing second and third in the pole vault clearing 3.95 meters and 3.80 meters, respectively.

In the long jump, Chelsea Spencer finished second with a jump of 5.58 meters, the top mark of all BYU women in the event this season. 

BYU men’s and women’s track and field will be at it again next weekend. The distance runners will compete at the Washington Invitational in Seattle Jan. 30-31. The sprinters, jumpers and throwers will compete at the Armory Invitational in New York City Jan. 30-31.