Gardner Breaks School Record at BYU Cougar Indoor Invite

PROVO, Utah – BYU sprinter Jaslyn Gardner clocked a 7.31 in the women’s 60m dash to break the school record at the BYU Cougar Indoor Invitational on Saturday.

BYU Cougar Indoor Invite - Final Results

Gardner held the previous school record (7.39) in the women’s 60m, set at the start of her sophomore season at the 2020 BYU Indoor Invite. The junior sprinter wasn’t done moving up the BYU record board, recording a personal-best 24.23 in the 200m, the eighth-fastest time in school history.

Easton Bianchi clocked a 6.72 to win the men’s 60m, tying the ninth-fastest time in BYU history. The sophomore followed that performance up with a career-best 21.51 to take first in the men’s 200m.

All-American Conner Mantz raced in his first collegiate track and field meet since 2019 after not appearing during the shortened 2020 season. He showed no signs of rust in his first race back, finishing with an NCAA-leading 7:58.03 to win the men’s 3000m.

Zach McWhorter took first in the men’s pole vault, clearing 5.55m/18-2.5 in his season debut. The sophomore All-American’s mark is currently the best across the NCAA at this point in the early season.

All-Americans Colten Yardley and Michael Bluth both started their 2021 seasons off strong. Yardley clocked a personal-best 47.60 to take first place in the men’s 400m and Bluth won the men’s 800m (1:53.21).

The Cougars had several freshmen perform well in their first collegiate meets. Hannah Richardson took first in the women’s pole vault (3.90m/12-9.5), Simone Plourde won the women’s 800m (2:10.43), and Meri Dunford took first in the women’s mile (5:15.00).

BYU track and field had four other athletes move up the program’s top-10 list during the first two days of competition.

Sierra Freeland tossed the sixth-best shot put in school history (15.51m/50-10.75) and Halley Folsom Walker finished with the 10th-best pentathlon point total (3,821 points). In the men’s heptathlon, Caleb Witsken finished with 5,423 points and Dallin Vorkink totaled 5,375 points to rank No. 7 and No. 9 in BYU history, respectively.

A complete recap of the first two days of the BYU Cougar Indoor Invitational can be found here.

The Cougars will head to the Air Force Invite in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The three-day meet is scheduled to take place Jan. 21-23, in the Cadet Field House.