PROVO -- The BYU men's and women's teams hosted the final day of the Robison Invitational, which featured many new season and career best marks set by multiple athletes.
"We had some very good marks and now we have a tough choice to make about who will go to conference," BYU men's head coach Mark Robison said. "We can only take 28 athletes, and right now it looks like we will have to leave five or six athletes here that will be going to regionals."
The No. 9 men's team added a few more athletes to the Region list. Nate Rencher ran a new season best time of 14.26 seconds in the 110-hurdle finals. His time qualified him for regionals. Kyle Perry won the mile in a region qualifying time of 4:07.94. Chandler Goodwin won the 3,000-meter steeplechase in a time of 9:03.32. Goodwin is already ranked in the top ten in the nation in the event. Jake Garlick set a new season best time in the 400 hurdles on his way to a second place finish of 52.09 seconds. Lance Walker set a personal best of 52.12 in the 400 hurdles, and Nate Rencher finished fourth with a time of 52.17. David Pendergrass won the high jump clearing 7 feet .5 inches and placed third in the triple jump with a jump of 47 feet 10.50 inches. Bob Low won the pole vault with a new season best jump of 17 feet 4.5 inches. Victor Weirich placed second in the pole vault, with a season best jump of 17 feet 0.75 inches. Daniel Lawson placed second in the shot put with a throw of 50 feet 3.25 inches. The 4x400 relay team improved by almost four seconds to take second place with a time of 3:10.56. The 4x100 relay team finished fourth with a time of 41.65 second, also a season best mark.
The No. 12 women's team also had some personal best and season best times.
"We had some solid marks today and our team competed well against some very good competition," BYU women's head coach Craig Poole. "We had some more qualifying marks and today's performances solidified some of the roster that will compete at the Mountain West Conference Championships. We hope to get a couple more athletes qualified for regionals at Weber Wednesday."
Sarah Lacey won the high jump with a jump of 5 feet 6 inches, a season best height, and Kathryn Beck finished fourth. Ashley McAllister tied for first in the pole vault at 12 feet 11.5 inches, which was her best vault of the season. Makenzie Iorg also improved on her season mark and took third. Tipaleli Fotu finished third in the hammer throw on her toss of 157 feet 11.50 inches. Mindy Neeley finished fifth in the 200 meters in a time of 24.36. Sandra Mazan finished second in the 400 hurdles in a season best time 58.87 seconds. Kelly Furr placed third in the 100-hurdle finals in a time of 14.28, a season best for her. Heidi Houle won the 800 meters in a region qualifying time of 2:09.95, which was also a season best time. The Cougars also took the next three spots in the 800 with Angela Wagner, Stacy Slight and Jenna Lowder coming in under 2:11.00. Whitney McDonald took second in the 1500 meters in a time of 4:30.37, a season best and region qualifying time after altitude adjustment. The women's 4x100 relay team took second place with a season best time of 45.87. The 4x400 relay team finished with a time of 3:47.76.
The women's distance team competed at the Penn Relays and set a new school record in the 4x1500 meters with a time of 17:41.05 placing second behind collegiate record setting Michigan. Michelle Turner ran a 4:24.7 first lap and handed off to Carlee Clark, who ran a season best time of 4:24.1. Amy Fowler took the third leg and finished in 4:26.1 and handed off to Heidi Magill for the final leg, which she ran in 4:26.1. The Cougars put together a 4x800 relay team that finished sixth in 8:39.84. Heidi Magill had the first leg and ran a 2:10.6. Carlee Clark finished second in a time of 2:08.7, a season best time, and gave to Michelle Turner who ran a 2:10.3. Julie Meads finished the race in 2:10.2, also a season best time.
"We've been to the Penn Relays many times," said distance coach Patrick Shane. "It's the largest attended track meet in the US. And the competition is great. The crowd started to make some of the girls nervous, but it's good exposure."