PROVO -- BYU junior Robbie Pratt pole vaulted to the NCAA's No. 3 mark this season by clearing 17 feet 10.5 inches during competition at the Clarence Robison Invitational on Friday.
Pratt's vault places him behind teammate Trent Powell on the national ranking. Powell cleared 18 feet 0.5 inches during the Cougars' last home meet.
"The wind was kind of goofy today," BYU men's track coach Mark Robison said. "It wasn't real conducive for good jumps. So Robbie did really well."
The BYU hurdle squad looked strong advancing 11 athletes to the finals tomorrow.
In the preliminaries of the hurdles competition, Amy Menlove set a season-best mark of 13.53 to advance to the finals with the fastest time of the day. Fellow multi-event star Liis Berendsen also advanced to the finals, crossing the line in a season-best 14.73.
On the men's side, both Bryan Payne and Ben Gardner advanced to the finals. Gardner ran a season-best 14.36 just missing a regional qualifying mark.
The women's team advance three to the finals of the 400-meter hurdles. Julie Andersen posted the day's best time at 1:02.40 also her season-best. Nicole Nevitt finished second at 1:02.76. Laura Hales also advanced with a time of 1:04.61, placing seventh.
BYU women's track coach Craig Poole said his team is right on track.
"We did what we were supposed to," he said. "We ran well."
The men's 400-meter hurdlers swept positions one through four in the preliminary heats. Ben Gardner posted a team-best 50.99 for the day's top time. Also advancing were Bryan Payne, Nate Rencher and Kansas Whitear.
Robison said he was extremely pleased with Gardner, who posted a lifetime best in the 110-meter hurdles.
The women's distance squad took the top-5 spots in the 5,000 meters. Chelsea Smith led the pack, winning the event in 17:48.16. She was followed by Lisa Frischknecht, Amber Duffin, Lisa Pratt and Laura Taylor in that order.
The Arrhenius brothers put on a great show in the finals of the discus throws.
Freshman Leif Arrhenius took the early lead with a toss of 173 feet 6 inches, just three inches more than his brother. Nik Arrhenius saved his best throw for last, tossing the discus more than two feet further at 175 feet 7 inches. Adam Pyne of BYU placed eighth.
Tiffany Arrhenius added to the family's success on Friday with a toss of 143 feet 11 inches to finish second. The throw was good enough for a regional qualifying mark. Candace Jones finished eighth in the event.
During the women's open pole vault, Ashley McCallister placed second, clearing 10 feet 11.75 inches. Teammate Ashley Shepard cleared 10 feet, finishing sixth.
Julie Andersen jumped 16 feet 8 inches in the long jump competition to place seventh.
Her male counterparts, Gabe Casdorph and Rodrigo Mendes finished second and fifth respectively in the long jump. Casdorph cleared 21 feet 9.5 inches. Mendes leapt 19 feet 8.25 inches.
Advancing to the finals of the women's 400 meters were Challis Firl and Christina McCracken. Firl ran the fourth-fastest time of the day at 58.39. McCracken crossed the line in 59.93, the seventh-best time of the day.
David Chesser posted the top time in the preliminaries of the men's 400 meters at 47.52, advancing to tomorrow's finals. Fellow Cougar Kevin Biesinger also advanced to the finals with a season-best time of 48.44.
Nate Soelberg, competing for only the second time this season, placed third in the prelims of the 100-meter dash. His time of 10.84 advances him to Saturday's final.
In the men's open 800 meters, Peter Gustafsson won the event in 1:55.11 with Scott Adams close behind in second at 1:55.53.
The Cougars' Brittany Faddis won the women's open high jump, clearing 5 feet 6 inches.
Both coaches emphasized that tomorrow's competition will be better; with the finals and invitational events set to begin at 10 a.m. Robison said All-Americans Nathan Robison and Bryan Lindsay will participate tomorrow, while Poole said fans should be excited to watch the triple jump, pole vault and high jump.
Tomorrow is the final day of the Robison Invitational. The public is invited to attend.