PROVO -- The BYU men's and women's team sent representatives to the Alex Wilson Invitational for one last chance to set a mark good enough to get into the National Championship next week. The women had some top finishes but no automatic qualifying marks.
"The kids competed well," BYU women's head coach Craig Poole said. "It's just that we didn't get good enough marks to automatically qualify for nationals. We just have to wait and see what will happen with the selections."
The DMR had a strong showing at the meet. Pulling out a third place finish in a tough field of eight that all posted provisional marks. The Cougars had an eleven second improvement over their previous mark. Their time of 11:15.73 was good enough for the eighth fastest time in the nation so far. Any athletes not hitting automatic marks will have to wait and see what the rest of the nation has done this weekend and see where they rank before knowing if they will go to nationals.
Mindy Neeley proved the best long jumper at the meet and could still make it to the national meet with her season best jump of 20 feet 6.50 inches. Tipaleli Fotu won the weight throw but was still short of the provisional mark. Carlee Clark was only five hundredths of a second from the provisional mark in the 800 meters. The provisional mark alone wasn't enough to get her to nationals this year with the strong competition in the 800 meters. Jennifer Grossarth finished fourth in the 400 but was four hundredths of a second from the provisional mark. Ashley McAllister and Kelly Furr were not able to improve on their marks. McAllister cleared 12-10.25, and Furr cleared 12-4.5.
The men competed in the DMR which featured three automatic qualifying times, but were unable to finish in the top ten to give themselves a better shot of making it to nationals.
"The DMR took a good shot at it, but I don't think it's going to be enough to get to nationals," BYU men's assistant coach Ed Eyestone said. "Two seconds difference would have moved us to the top ten in the nation. At these meets you have to be right on in order to advance."
Dustin Bybee ran the 3000 meters for the first time this season, and finished ninth in a time of 8:16.92. Teammate Chris Carter ran in the 800 meters and finished in a time of 1:52.07. Tyrel Jensen ran the mile in a time of 4:10.98.