PROVO -- The BYU men's and women's track teams finished their first indoor meet strong as both teams posted first place finishes and personal bests at the BYU Indoor Invitational Saturday.
"We had some good performances, and some less-than-stellar ones," BYU men's head coach Mark Robison said. "I was really intrigued with the performance of our heptathletes. (Matt) Weirich got a provisional mark, (Dustin) Bybee looked very good, and (David) Pendergrass did well in the high jump. This meet was exactly what we needed. It wasn't too big but we got to compete against another team. I was pleased."
In the heptathlon, BYU junior Justin Palmer scored a total of 5,113 points. Noah Garfield, in his first heptathlon since returning from a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, came in second place with 4,676 points, setting personal bests in three of eight events. Fellow heptathletes, Tyler Brown and Kenny Bledsoe got their first experience in a collegiate meet with Brown posting the best marks in the heptathlon pole vault.
One of the most anticipated races of the day was the men's mile. Last year's national champion in the steeplechase, Josh McAdams, came into the meet unattached to challenge BYU runners. The presence of Mexican runner Salvador Miranda also helped push BYU junior Dustin Bybee to run hard and finish in second place with a time of 4:14.85. All-American Kyle Perry took fourth with a time of 4:23.69.
Other stellar performances came in the high jump and pole vault. Pendergrass finished first in the high jump with his jump of 7 feet 0.75 inches. In the pole vault, former BYU All-American Robbie Pratt took first place. BYU junior Weirich cleared 17 feet 0.75 inches, which was high enough to qualify provisionally for nationals. Robert Low and Alex Green tied place for third in the pole vault as each jumped 16 feet and 1 inch.
The women ran hard against UVSC and Utah take one or many of the first five places in every event.
"We ran faster than last year at this meet," BYU women's head coach Craig Poole said. "We had two possible qualifiers for nationals. We saw some things we need to get stronger in, but all-in-all, I am very pleased."
Kelly Furr also qualified provisionally in the pole vault when she cleared 12 feet 11.5 inches. Freshman Mindy Neeley won first place in the long jump with her jump of 20 feet 5.25 inches. Sophomore JennaBree Tollestrup-Brown won the triple jump with a jump of 38 feet 4.75 inches. Junior Kristin Hirst won the high jump by clearing 5 feet 6.25 inches. Ashley Payne came in second and Sarah Lacey tied for third.
Another freshman, Diane Stewart, came up big for the Cougars by winning the 60-meter hurdles. Brown took third, and Nicole Nevitt came in fourth. Nevitt would later place second in the 300-meter dash and then lead the women's 4x1-lap relay to a first-place finish. When she took the baton, the Cougars were in third place behind Utah. She not only closed the gap but passed both of the other teams to take first place. BYU held the lead, and Jennifer Grossarth kicked it into high gear to finish almost six seconds faster than their competition.
The men's and women's teams part next weekend as the men head to the University of New Mexico, and the women travel up north to the Boise State Invitational.