FT. COLLINS -- BYU multi-event star Liis Berendsen finished second in the women's heptathlon with 5,056 points, moving up three spots to capture eight team points during the second day of the Mountain West Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Thursday.
Her men's counterparts fought through injuries to add 11 points for the men's team, as Devin Howe finished third, Chris Weirich fifth and Kevin Keys eighth.
Berendsen started the day in fifth place hindered by the rain and wind that plagued the first day of competition.
"She had an excellent day today, when you consider the start she got off to yesterday with the weather and all," BYU women's track coach Craig Poole said. "She came back very well and was very competitive."
Berendsen saved her best for the last day of multi-event competition by winning the 800 meters and finishing second in the long jump. Poole said she received lifetime best marks in the javelin and 800 meters.
The native of Estonia ran the 800 meters in 2:17.10 to earn 863 points and gathered another 744 points in the long jump, clearing 18 feet 6.5 inches.
Heading into the final event, the 800 meters, Berendsen trailed Janine Polischuk of San Diego State by 57 points.
To move past Polischuk into second place the BYU junior needed to beat Polischuk by just more than four seconds in the race to make up the point differential. Berendsen did that, crossing the line 4.65 seconds before Polischuk.
The men's multi-event athletes fought through a myriad of injuries to earn points for the team.
"Our guys showed a lot of character," BYU men's coach Mark Robison said. "They really hung in there even though it wasn't a thing of beauty."
Howe and Weirich both competed with hamstring injuries that seemed to get worse with the weather. Today's weather started out nice, but the competition was delayed due to lightning strikes, keeping the decathletes from staying loose.
Howe started strong yesterday ending in second place, but the injury just kept him at less than 100 percent. Robison said he wasn't even sure Howe would be able to run today. But Howe kept competing, even winning the javelin throw with a lifetime best heave of just more than 182 feet.
Weirich moved up two spots despite have a very sore wrist. He won the pole vault portion of the competition by clearing 15 feet 1 inch.
Keys moved up two spots after winning the discus throw.
Berendsen finished third in the pentathlon at this year's MWC Indoor Track and Field Championships, before competing at nationals in the pentathlon as well. She has already regionally qualified for the heptathlon after scoring 5,106 points at the Texas Relays in April.
Freshmen teammates Julie Andersen and Sarah Lacey finished ninth and 10th respectively in the multi-event competition, just finishing out of team point contention.
"They were in the hunt," Poole said. "They put forth a real fine effort. They've got a bright future here at BYU."
Poole said he is looking forward to tomorrow's events saying competition should be close and exciting as the host Colorado State Rams have a strong team this year.
Robison is also looking forward to tomorrow when the weather should improve and the Cougars should score some more points.
Competition begins tomorrow with the women's hammer throw at 10 a.m.