Wayment, Riner named USTFCCCA Mountain Region Athletes of the Year

NEW ORLEANS — BYU women's track and field athletes Courtney Wayment and Ashton Riner were named the Mountain Region Track and Field Athletes of the Year, the USTFCCCA announced Thursday.

Wayment took home the 3000-meter steeplechase title at the 2022 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships last week, closing out her BYU career with a third individual national title, and fourth national title overall. 

Also named the Mountain Region Track Athlete of the Year at the end of this year's indoor season, where she won the 5000-meters in Birmingham, Ala., Wayment ran away with the steeplechase title, clocking a personal best 9:16.00, surpassing her previous school record by 7.09 seconds.

Her time also broke the collegiate and meet record, previously set by New Mexico's Courtney Frerichs in 2016, by 8.41 seconds. The senior from Layton came into the meet with the No. 1 time in the nation, and left no doubt at Hayward on Saturday with her dominating performance in the event.

Since the USTFCCCA began its regional awards in 2006-07, no BYU athlete has been named Mountain Region Athlete of the Year more than once. Wayment was also awarded the honor after the 2021 indoor season, where she won an individual title in the 3000-meters, making her a three-time Mountain Region Track Athlete of the Year with a clean sweep this season.

Also heading into Eugene as the No. 1 seed after breaking her own school record earlier in the season, Riner won the javelin title at the Outdoor Championships by just under two feet, becoming the first Cougar to win a women's field title since Anna Mosdell's discus championship in 1992.

The junior from Connell, Wash. took an early lead in the event, launching a 58.24m/191-1 opening mark, one that no other thrower would be able to touch last Thursday night.

With the win, Riner became the first BYU field athlete, men’s or women’s, to win an individual national title since her coach, Niklas Arrehnius did so in 2007. Arrhenius was also the last BYU field athlete to win an outdoor Mountain Region Athlete of the Year award.

Read the full USTFCCCA release here.