Relay team races strong with regional qualifying mark

LOS ANGELES — BYU track and field athletes continue to improve with stand out performances. Derek Lord, Drew Tingey, Tatenda Tsumba and Michael Abbott, the men’s 4x100 relay team, raced a regional qualifying time of 40.12 seconds.

“The big news is that the 4x100 team had a qualifying mark,” BYU track and field head coach Ed Eyestone said. “The mark should put them solidly in the top 24 and it was a nice performance. The team had some very great hand offs and got around the track in great speed. After the fact we realized we could have been a little more aggressive, but quite frankly, until you get that qualifying mark you want to make sure you get that baton safely around the track and they did a very nice job of doing that without losing momentum. It was all about teamwork and that’s what it’s all about in a relay so that was great.”  

Aaron Fletcher ran a time of 8:39.10 in the steeple chase to place him number eight all time at BYU. This time will also rank as one of the top 10 time in the country. 

Other highlighted events on the men’s side included Jesse White, who ran 46.22 in the 400-meter dash to take third place overall. White is currently ranked number 15 in the nation with a time of 45.92, previously recorded at the Sun Angel Classic.

Chase Horrocks had a strong performance in the men’s 1500-meter run to take eighth place overall. Max Shieble and Mark Carlson placed fourth and fifth overall in the men’s 400-meter hurdles. Shieble and Carlson have both previously recorded times to get them to regionals. Tatenda Tsumba took third in the 200-meter dash and Craig Merkley placed third in the discus with a personal college best mark of 52.71 meters.

Kristi Rush and Ashleigh Warner led the women’s side with standout performances in their event. The two athletes raced in the 1500-meter run and both recorded season best times. Rush placed fourth with a time of 4:22.16 and Warner placed fifth with a time of 4:22.36.

Shea Martinez-Collinsworth continued her solid performances with a time of 53.45 in the women’s 400-meter run. This is a season best for Collinsworth and the time has the potential to rank her in the top 20 in the west.

Madison Pachner and Kassie Nagel had strong marks in their respective events. Pachner placed first in the women’s discus with a mark of 49.93 meters and Nagel took second place in the women’s shot put with a personal best mark of 14.37 meters.

Next week the BYU track and field team will host the final meet of the season, BYU Last Chance, on May 12-13.