Fifteen BYU track and field athletes advance to NCAA Championships

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – A total of 15 BYU athletes qualified for the 2018 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in 16 entries as the three-day NCAA West Preliminary Round concluded Saturday night.

"We're very excited about the direction we're headed in," BYU head coach Ed Eyestone. "Our athletes came out and performed at a very high level. Now we're just hoping to go to the big dance and score as many points as we can."

Connor McMillan (13:48.45), Clayton Young (13:51.19) and Rory Linkletter (13:51.28) each earned their second qualifying bid of the weekend to the NCAA Championships in the 5000m. The trio first qualified for nationals on Thursday night in the 10,000m.

Whittni Orton ran a personal-best 4:14.41 in the 1500m Saturday to guarantee her spot in the national meet and gave her the No. 3 all-time mark in school history. Anna Camp also broke her previous record in the 1500m with a time of 4:18.08 but fell one spot shy of qualifying for the semifinal.

After running a 13.36 in the 100m hurdles prelims on Friday, Alyssa Dalton clocked a 13.27 in Saturday night’s quarterfinal to advance to the semifinal round at nationals. The BYU women’s 4x400 relay team ran a season-best 3:36.82 to close the track meet for the Cougars and earned the final qualifying spot for the semifinal at the NCAA Championships.

The Cougars qualified six athletes for nationals on the opening day of the NCAA West Prelims on Thursday. True freshman Ashton Riner finished in 11th place in the women’s javelin to secure her spot in the NCAA Championships. Andrea Stapleton-Johnson punched her ticket to nationals for the second year in a row after taking first place in the high jump with a clearance of 1.80m

The men’s 10,000m squad entered regionals ranked No. 1 in the nation and left with four national qualifiers after Linkletter won the race with a time of 29:14.29. McMillan took third (29:14.91), Young (29:16.08) finished ninth and Conner Mantz (29:16.78) came in 11th.

Brenna Porter earned her spot to compete at the NCAA Championships after clocking a career-best 57.18 in the 400m hurdles on Friday. The No. 1 ranked men's steeplechase team added two more qualifiers for BYU Friday night with Matt Owens (8:36.73) taking second place and Clayson Shumway (8:36.76) taking third.

Kevin Nielsen received an automatic bid to nationals after the regular season in the decathlon, qualifying with a total of 7475 points for the 24th seed. Decathletes do not compete in the NCAA preliminary rounds.

The NCAA Championships will be in held at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, June 6-9. ESPN holds the broadcasting rights and a schedule of its coverage can be found on ncaa.com.

Overall Results:

Women
NAME	EVENT	MARK	FINISH	NEXT UP
Ellie Heiden-Quackenbush	200m	24.30	40th	Did Not Qualify (DNQ)
Claire Seymour	800m	2:10.79	37th	DNQ
Avery Walker	800m	2:17.78	47th	DNQ
Whittni Orton	1500m	4:14.41	9th	Semifinal in Eugene, OR June 6-9
Anna Camp	1500m	4:18.08	13th	DNQ
Madelyn Dickson	1500m	4:25.46	24th	DNQ
Kate Hunter	1500m	4:25.98	26th	DNQ
Olivia Hoj	3000m Steeplechase	10:05.45	14th	DNQ
Maddie Cannon	3000m Steeplechase	10:09.78	18th	DNQ
Emma Gee	3000m Steeplechase	10:19.95	32nd	DNQ
Sara Musselman	3000m Steeplechase	10:23.26	33rd	DNQ
Ashleigh Warner	5000m	16:14.96	28th	DNQ
Alyssa Dalton	100m hurdles	13.27	11th	Semifinal in Eugene OR June 6-9
Nicole Lord	100m hurdles	13.84	33rd	DNQ
Brenna Porter	400m hurdles	57.18	3rd	Semifinal in Eugene, OR June 6-9
4x400m - Lauren Rawlinson - Cassidy Pinnock - Ellie Heiden-Quackenbush - Brenna Porter	4X400m	3:36.82	12th	Semifinal in Eugene, OR June 6-9
Andrea Stapleton-Johnson	High Jump	1.80m	1st	Final in Eugene, OR June 6-9
Nicole Lord	High Jump	1.75m	26th	DNQ
Marissa Appiah	High Jump	1.70m	29th	DNQ
Ellyana Long	High Jump	1.70m	34th	DNQ
Sierra Hansen	Pole Vault	NH	NH	DNQ
Siale Vaitohi-Teaupa	Hammer	52.10m	41st	DNQ
Ashton Riner	Javelin	50.21m	11th	Final in Eugene, OR June 6-9
Payge Cuthbertson	Javelin	40.52	42nd	DNQ

Men
NAME	EVENT	MARK	FINISH	NEXT UP
Clark Brown	100m	10.49	30th	DNQ
Derek Sorensen	100m	10.50	35th	DNQ
Derek Sorensen	200m	21.20	22nd	DNQ
Clark Brown	200m	21.34	27th	DNQ
Abraham Alvarado	800m	1:49.00	14th	DNQ
Patrick Parker	1500m	3:47.24	16th	DNQ
Talem Franco	1500m	3:44.90	13th	DNQ
Marcus Dickson	1500m	3:54.35	30th	DNQ
Matt Owens	3000m Steeplechase	8:36.73	2nd	Final in Eugene, OR June 6-9
Clayson Shumway	3000m Steeplechase	8:36.76	3rd	Final in Eugene, OR June 6-9
Jacob Heslington	3000m Steeplechase	8:44.46	11th	DNQ
Daniel Carney	3000m Steeplechase	8:46.15	14th	DNQ
Porter Reddish	3000m Steeplechase	8:50.28	21st	DNQ
Garett Marsing	3000m Steeplechase	8:57.23	23rd	DNQ
Connor McMillan	5000m	13:48.45	5th	Final in Eugene, OR June 6-9
Clayton Young	5000m	13:51.19	10th	Final in Eugene, OR June 6-9
Rory Linkletter	5000m	13:51.28	11th	Final in Eugene, OR June 6-9
Daniel Carney	5000m	13:58:24	18th	DNQ
Rory Linkletter	10,000m	29:14.29	1st	Final in Eugene, OR June 6-9
Connor McMillan	10,000m	29:14.91	3rd	Final in Eugene, OR June 6-9
Clayton Young	10,000m	29:16.08	9th	Final in Eugene, OR, June 6-9
Conner Mantz	10,000m	29:16.78	11th	Final in Eugene, OR June 6-9
Dallin Farnsworth	10,000m	29:33.03	19th	DNQ
Connor Weaver	10,000m	29:52.58	26th	DNQ
Michael Ottesen	10,000m	30:02.14	30th	DNQ
Brayden McLelland	10,000m	30:49.47	44th	DNQ
Scott Mecham	400m hurdles	50.89	14th	DNQ
Max Scheible	400m hurdles	51.14	17th	DNQ
Colten Yardley	400m hurdles	52.83	39th	DNQ
Raul Rios	Pole Vault	5.00m	27th	DNQ
Jake Jarvis	Pole Vault	NH	NH	DNQ
Jefferson Jarvis	Shot Put	17.56	31st	DNQ
Seth Knowlton	Discus	51.87m	27th	DNQ
Jacob Foutz	Hammer	59.69m	32nd	DNQ
Kevin Nielsen	Decathlon	7475	N/A	Final in Eugene, OR June 6-9