Sprinters shine, Ross wins pole vault on day one at Air Force

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — BYU women’s and men’s track and field posted an event win and 16 preliminary advancements at the Ralph Lindeman Invitational at Cadet Fieldhouse on Friday.

Women's Recap

BYU women’s track and field notched an event win along with 10 preliminary advancements on Friday.

Rebekah Ross won the women’s pole vault for the third time in as many meets this season. Ross was the only vaulter on the day to clear 4.0 meters, winning the event at 4.00m/13-1.5. The sophomore from Spokane, Washington is ranked No. 12 nationally with a season and personal-best 4.21m/13-9.75.

Adaobi Tabugbo won the women’s 60-meter hurdle preliminary as she upped her personal-best to 8.38. Tabugbo bested preliminary runner-up and nationally-ranked sprinter Avery McMullen of Colorado by 0.08 seconds. The two will face-off again on Saturday in the women’s 60m hurdle final at 12:30 p.m. MST. Tabugbo’s time on Friday keeps her at No. 6 all-time at BYU; just two hundredths of a second off surpassing Miriam Fisher (2004) for No. 5.

Sprinter Jaslyn Gardner clocked 7.46 to win the women’s 60-meter preliminary. Faith Turner of Wichita State took runner-up to Gardner in the preliminary at 7.49. Gardner has a season-best time of 7.34, tying her with Penn’s Moforehan Abinusawa for No. 20 nationally.

Emma Johnson took seventh on Friday at 7.74 and will join Gardner in the women’s 60m final at 1:10 p.m.

The Cougars advanced three women to the 400-meter final as three sprinters finished top-7. Sami Oblad won the preliminary at 56.16, while Maddy Eaton and Kathryn Bingham clocked 59.37 and 59.70, respectively to move-on. The three women will vie to win the 400m final on Saturday at 12:50 p.m.

Annalise Hart, Brilee Pontius, Marianne Barber and Dolita Shaw each advanced through the women’s 200-meter heats on Friday. Hart, Pontius and Shaw each won their heats while Hart edged Wichita State’s Turner for third overall on the day.

Men’s Recap

Friday saw six Cougars advance to the finals in their respective preliminary events. Eli Hazlett (400m) and Josh Taylor (200m) highlighted the runners, both finishing first in their sprint events to eclipse personal records. Hazlett notched a 48.17 time while Taylor crossed the line at 21.56.

The men competed in five total events – the 60m hurdles, high jump, 60m, 400m and 200m. Each were prelims aside from the high jump.

The 200m proved successful for BYU, fielding three of the day’s six qualifiers. In addition to Taylor, Trey Jackson set a personal record to finish fifth (21.79) while Jared Davis posted a time of 21.80.

Senior Easton Bianchi registered a time of 6.79 in the 60m prelim, good for third. Treyton Anderson also qualified in the 60m hurdles with a sixth-place finish (8.24) to round out the Cougars who advance to competition in tomorrow’s final events.

Nationally-ranked Jake Grimsman (No. 21) finished fifth overall in the high jump finals with a mark of 2.05m/6-8.75.

Saturday's events will begin at 12:30 p.m. MST for both the women's and men's teams, with the men's pole vault and women's 60m hurdle finals.