Cougars rank No.1 in entries for upcoming NCAA West Prelims

PROVO, Utah – The BYU track and field program will have a program-high 59 entries competing in the 2019 NCAA West Preliminary Round in Sacramento, California, May 23-25.

“We’re excited about the prospect of taking 59 athletes to the regional meet,” BYU head coach Ed Eyestone said. “We’ve got the most combined athletes qualified in the entire NCAA. It’s mission accomplished as far as getting athletes to the meet and now the important step is to have them finish in the top 12 in their events.”

BYU has the highest number of combined entries to the NCAA West Prelims. The top 12 finishers in each event at the NCAA West Prelims will advance to the 2019 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on June 5-8 in Austin, Texas. Based on current rankings, the Cougars currently have 18 entries ranked in the top 12 in their respective events.

In the regional meet, the No. 6 BYU men’s track and field team will feature 35 of its athletes in competition, with 14 earning top-12 seeds. All-Americans Connor McMillan (No. 1), Rory Linkletter (No. 2), Conner Mantz (No. 3) and Clayton Young (No. 4) headline the top four runners in the the 10,000m in the NCAA this season. In the 5000m, Mantz and Young are ranked No. 3, 5 in the nation. All-American Matt Owens (No. 3), All-American Clayson Shumway (No. 5) and Jake Heslington (No. 8) will be competing in the men’s 3000m steeplechase.

Talem Franco (No. 12) will be racing in the men’s 1500m and the men’s 4x400m relay team (No. 12) will include Abram Schaap, Colten Yardley, Blake Ellis and Michael Bluth.

From the BYU women’s team, 25 athletes will be competing with six ranking in the top 12. Headlining the BYU women’s team is All-American Andrea Stapleton-Johnson who ranks No. 1 in the NCAA in the women’s high jump. The other top-seeded athletes are Lauren Ellsworth-Barnes (No. 2) in the 800m, Brenna Porter (No. 4) in the 400m hurdles, Erica Birk-Jarvis (No. 5) in the 3000m steeplechase, Whittni Orton (No. 5) in the 1500m and Anna Camp-Bennett (No. 6) in the 800m.

Brian Matthews already punched his ticket to compete in the decathlon at the NCAA Championships with his career-best score of 7335 at the BYU Cougar Invitational. Instead of hosting a preliminary round, the NCAA advances the top 24 declared decathletes and heptathletes straight to the finals.

Eyestone is looking forward to seeing how the athletes compete in the postseason after a strong outdoor track and field season. He stated that they’re not so concerned about athletes winning their particular event, but just advancing as many to the national meet as possible.

The BYU coach expects that Cougars currently ranked in the top 12 will perform up to ability and advance, but he also hopes that those outside of the top 12 can improve their standing.

“That’s a great goal for anybody – to improve on their position coming in,” Eyestone said. “It will be a great performance if an athlete can come into this meet and improve on their position. What makes this meet special is when we get surprises from athletes rising up at the most important meet of the year and qualifying for the NCAA Championships. ”

The 2019 West Prelims will be held at Hornet Stadium in Sacramento, California, from May 23-25. The meet schedule and full list of NCAA qualifiers can be found here. Live stats and streaming options can be found on the BYU track and field schedule page two days prior to the first day of competition.

Thursday, May 23

Friday, May 24

Saturday, May 25

* -- If qualified