Cougars record 10 top-10 marks in Lubbock, Seattle

PROVO, Utah — BYU men's and women's track and field saw success across several events as it concluded meets in Lubbock, Texas and Seattle, Washington on Saturday.

Saturday Recap

Texas Tech Shootout

Men's Recap
The BYU men’s sprinters shone in two sections of competition at the Sports Performance Center on Saturday. Dallin Draper and Easton Bianchi finished 14th and 24th, respectively, in the men’s 200m. Draper set a new personal-record with a time of 21.42, chipping away at his previous best set at the Air Force Invitational in January, and coming up just 0.12 seconds short of the BYU top-10 board.

BYU posted three top-15 finishers in the 62-man 200m “B” section final. Jared Davis took the top spot with a personal-best sprint of 21.512, just 0.2 seconds outside the program’s top-10. Jace Jensen (21.73) came in sixth and Trey Jackson finished 12th with a new personal-best of 21.97.

Jackson and Jensen teamed up with Joshua Taylor and Colten Yardley to help the men’s 4x400 “A” squad finish second in the event with a time of 3:09.74.

Caleb Witsken dominated the men’s pole vault in Lubbock as he won the competition with a clearance of 5.36m/17-7. Nathan Burnett finished fifth with a personal-best of 5.06m/16-7.25.

Women's Recap
Jessica Thompson continued her top-10 success in Lubbock on Saturday, setting a new personal best mark of 15.31m/50-2.75 in the shot put, which puts her at No. 9 in school history.

Seven of the eight BYU athletes who competed in the 200m set new personal bests. Brilee Pontius (24.764) and Annalise Hart (24.87) finished second and fourth in the B section, respectively. Kate Thomas ran a new personal best time of 26.245.

In the A section of the 200m, Brinn Jensen (24.571), Taye Raymond (24.59), Layne Bolli (24.99) and My’Jah Mintze (25.24) each set personal bests.

Cierra Tidwell-Allphin won the high jump with a new personal best mark of 1.86/6-1.25, beating out seventh-ranked Texas Tech’s Sidney Scapp. Her jump moved her from tied for 10th to tied for No. 3 on BYU’s all-time high jump list. It also brought her into a three-way tie for No. 4 in the nation, putting her in national qualifying position.

The 4x400 squad of Jensen, Hart, Halley Folsom Walker and Brilee Pontius also etched their names in school history on Saturday, clocking a 3:40.74 in the event to break the previous record time of 3:40.79, set in 2014. 

Husky Classic

Men's Recap
Austin Klingler and Kenneth Rooks represented the BYU men at Dempsey Indoor on Saturday. Klingler held-off runners from Wyoming, Colorado and Portland as he finished 10th in the 800m with a time of 1:52.52. Rooks set a personal-best in the mile, finishing 28th at 4:04.10.

Women's Recap
True freshman Carmen Alder set a personal best mile time of 4:36.93. That time also puts her at No. 7 in school history. Alissa Fielding (4:59.03) and Anastasia Davis (4:51.33) both set new personal bests in the event.

In the Invite mile heat, Courtney Wayment’s time of 4:33.97 puts her in national qualifying position at No. 4 in the nation.

Ali Baker’s time of 2:15.97 in the 800m was a new personal best, and in the Invite 800m heat, Meghan Hunter’s 2:05.03 time was good for both a new personal best and No. 8 in BYU history.

Friday Recap

Texas Tech Shootout

Women's Recap
Five different BYU athletes entered or moved up on the all-time top-10 list on Friday, beginning with Sable Lohmeier El-Bakri in the weight throw. With a toss of 19.95m/65-5.5, crushing her previous personal best by over two meters, Lohmeier El-Bakri moved from No. 6 all-time to No. 2 all-time in BYU weight throw history.

Freshman pole vaulter Cailee Faulkner then set a personal best jump of 4.05m/13-3.5, putting her at tied for No. 7 all-time. Faulkner’s mark was also good for first place in Section B of the event.

Adaobi Tabugbo set a new personal best time in the 60m hurdles, clocking an 8.46 in the qualifying round before following that up with an 8.41 in the semifinal. Both times placed her in the top-10, and Tabugbo jumped from No. 8 to No. 6 in school history over the course of the evening.

Jessica Thompson continued BYU’s weight throw success in Lubbock. She threw a personal best mark of 18.13m/59-5.75, good for fifth all-time at BYU.

Men's Recap
Six BYU men set personal records on Friday, with three coming in the 400m. Trey Jackson (47.89) and Jace Jensen (47.99) each clocked personal-best times and finished 13th and 15th, respectively. Landon Maxfield finished 18th with personal-best of 48.02. Colten Yardley, Joshua Taylor and Cortez Ruiz also competed in the men’s 400m. Yardley recorded the best finish of the six, coming in 12th.

These finishes placed the Cougars in front of competitors from future Big 12 foes Oklahoma State and Baylor.

Spencer Carlile competed in the "B" section of the men’s 400m and finished second, clocking-in at 48.34.

Jared Davis set personal-bests in both the men’s 60m hurdle preliminary and semi-final. Davis finished the semi-final in 17th after recording a time of 8.23.

Danny Bryant shone as the Cougars’ lone men’s thrower of the day, tossing a personal-best 16.99/55-9 to finish fifth in the weight throw. Bryant finished with a lead of nearly 0.3m over athletes from Texas State and North Texas, while coming up just 0.03m short of Oklahoma’s Diego Trevino.

Husky Classic

Women's Recap
In Seattle, McKenna Lee’s new personal best time of 16:08.94 in the 5000m boosted her from the No. 8 spot up to No. 7 in the BYU top-10.

Concluding the night in the DMR, the squad of Kate Hunter, Meghan Hunter, Claire Seymour and Courtney Wayment finished first with a time of 10:58.37, a time that currently ranks second in nation.

Men's Recap
Seven BYU men's distance runners competed in the 5000m with Brandon Garnica and Joey Nokes leading the way at sixth and 17th place, respectively. Garnica clocked a 13:34.37 to finish ahead of athletes from Stanford, Colorado, Iowa State and Arkansas. Nokes top-20 spot followed a time of 13:53.51. Davin Thompson, Zach Erikson, Adam Wood, Zac Jacklin and Aaron Leavens also competed, though Garnica and Nokes were the only top-20 finishers in the field of 62. 

Aidan Troutner and Garrett Marsing competed in the 3000m. Troutner finished 30th of 79 as he clocked-in at 8:11.88, edging UCLA's Munir Kabbara by 0.5 seconds. Marsing finished 66th at 8:27.16. 

The Cougars will be back in action on Saturday, Feb. 12, starting with the Texas Tech Shootout women’s shot put at 10 a.m. CST and Husky Classic women’s mile at 12:40 p.m. PST.