Cougars qualify 10 entries to NCAA Indoor Championships

PROVO, Utah – BYU track and field earned a total of 10 entries as the NCAA announced official qualifiers on Tuesday for the 2019 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships.

Qualifying for her third NCAA Indoor Championships meet, All-American Andrea Stapleton-Johnson will head into Nationals atop the NCAA Division I rankings in the high jump. The senior’s qualifying mark of 1.87m/6-1.5 also earned her the No. 2 mark all-time at BYU.

Erica Birk-Jarvis will compete in the 3000m for the women’s team at Nationals. The All-American’s qualifying time of 9:00.69 came at the Iowa State Classic where she also set a new BYU record time in the event.

For the second year in a row, All-American Whittni Orton will make an appearance in the mile at the NCAA Indoor Championships. The junior earned first-team All-America honors in the mile last year with a seventh-place finish at the 2018 NCAA Indoor Championships.

The women’s team will also have four athletes competing on a relay team in the distance medley relay (DMR). BYU qualified a women’s DMR team for the third-straight year after a team consisting of Birk-Jarvis, Alena Ellsworth, Lauren Ellsworth-Barnes and Orton ran the fourth-fastest time in the nation (10:56.51) while also breaking the school record. The Cougars will finalize which four athletes will compete on the relay team closer to the NCAA Championship meet.

BYU’s Conner Mantz, All-American Connor McMillan and All-American Clayton Young will represent the men’s team in both the 3000m and 5000m. Young broke the school record in the 5000m this season at the Iowa State Classic with a time of 13:34.46. In that same race, McMillan and Mantz finished behind Young for the No. 2 (13:38.63) and No. 3 (13:39.27) times in school history, respectively.

The 2019 NCAA Indoor Championships will be hosted at the CrossPlex in Birmingham, Alabama, March 8-9. A full list of athlete entries can be found along with the general meet information on ncaa.com.