Guenther Ties Record at Texas Relays

OREM, Utah – Senior Christen Guenther tied the BYU women's outdoor pole vault record at the Texas Relays, while the majority of the team competed at the Utah Valley Invitational. 

Guenther cleared 4.25m (13-11.25) on her second attempt to tie the record. The mark is a new outdoor career best for Guenther, who now sits atop the BYU record board with Kari Clark, who cleared 4.25m in 2010. 

Six Cougars brought home victories from the second annual UVU Invite. Freshman Lexi Eaton, who also competes on the BYU basketball team, won the high jump in her first ever collegiate competition. Eaton cleared 1.75-meters (5-9.00) to take home the win.

"A lot of our athletes took this as a weekend to rest, but the athletes we did have compete ended up with some great marks," head coach Patrick Shane said. "Lexi Eaton really performed well in the high jump in her first competition of the year. We also had some other great performances by freshmen, including Nicole Naatjes in the pole vault and Brianna French in the shot put." 

Diana Blauer and Taylor Stapley tied for second in the high jump with leaps of 1.70m (5-7.00). Senior Ada Robinson snagged fourth by clearing the same height but in more attempts.

Junior Melissa Keltner picked up first-place finishes in both the long jump and triple jump. Keltner recorded personal bests in both events by jumping 5.69m (18-8.00) in the long jump and 12.26m (40-2.75) in the triple.

Also snagging a win in the field was freshman thrower Brianna French. French won the discus with a career best toss of 47.71m (156-6.25).

The Cougars took the top three spots in the pole vault and were led by freshman Nicole Naatjes, who won the event with an outdoor season-best vault of 3.90m (12-9.50). Elizabeth Portanova and Diane McAllister Perry tied for second with heights of 3.75m (12-3.75).

On the track, sophomore Aubrey Hale won the 100m in 12.01. Stapley managed a second place finish to lead BYU in the 100m hurdles in 14.41, while Brooke Jensen crossed the line in fourth in 14.77.

Katie Swanson secured a second place finish in the 1500m with a time of 4:47.64. Also taking home a top-three finish in a distance event was Candace Eddy, who finished the 800m in 2:16.41 to finish third.

Sophomore Elizabeth Wilson set a new career best with 4,860 points in the heptathlon at the Texas Relays. Wilson’s best event was the shot put, in which she finished second off a toss of 12.16m (49-10.75) and earned 672 points.

BYU will host the BYU-USC-Boise State Tri-Meet at the Clarence F. Robison Track and Field Complex on Saturday, April 7. A few athletes will also travel to California to compete at the Stanford Invitational on April 6-7. 

For final results from the UVU Invitational, visit runnercard.com. 

For final results from the Texas Relays, visit texassports.com.