EUGENE -- The BYU women's track team finished seventh and the men's track team placed ninth in the West Region. The Cougars could advance as many as 17 athletes to the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
"We scored more than 40 points, which is really good," BYU women's track head coach Craig Poole said. " Individually, Kelly Furr set a school record in the pole vault. Kamila Rywelska did well, Mindy Neeley did well and many other athletes had great performances on the track. We are just really impressed with the group of athletes that we brought here. They competed well and performed at a high level. We feel very positive about the outcome of this meet."
Heidi Magill finished second in the 1500 meters with a season-best 4:21.14, to stamp her ticket to the national meet in Sacramento, California, while adding eight points to the total score. Julie Meads finished in 4:29.78 to place 10th. Then in the 800 meters, Michelle Turner placed fifth in a time of 2:07.17, earning a spot in the national meet. Jennifer Grossarth shaved nearly a second off her season-best time to take third in the 400-meter hurdles. Her time of 57.58 puts her in third place all-time at BYU. Sandra Mazan finished in eighth place adding a point to the team total in her first region meet. Kassi Andersen took third in the Steeplechase in a time of 10:11.23, cutting seven seconds off her previous mark, to secure her fourth NCAA Outdoor Championship appearance. Amy Fowler had the second fastest time in the West Region but finished in eighth place. She will probably advance with an at-large berth. In the women's pole vault Kelly Furr cleared a career-best height of 13 feet 7.75 inches, which is also a BYU School Record. Ashley McAllister tied for eighth place, Makenzie Iorg came in 10th and Julene Kaufusi came in 12th in the pole vault. The 4x400 relay team of Turner, Mazan, Heidi Houle and Grossarth won their heat, but finished in seventh place overall. Kamila Rywelska placed eighth in the triple jump with a jump of 41 feet 6 inches.
"Heidi ran a great race and the best time of the season for her," said BYU women's distance coach Patrick Shane. "Michelle Turner ran a good strategic race, which had a little bumping and congestion, to advance to nationals. Whitney McDonald ran a good race and will compete at Nationals. Kassi Andersen ran a great race with a season-best performance as well. It's been a good meet and we look forward to nationals."
The men got a big lift from the high jump. David Pendergrass cleared 7 feet 1 inch to take third place and Bryce Bergen cleared 6 feet 11 inches to take fourth and advance to the Outdoor Championships in the high jump. Ammon Dahl cleared a lifetime best of 6 feet 11 inches and finished in sixth place making the total points from the high jump 14. Skyler McDonald made it to the finals in the Javelin and placed eighth with a throw of 198 feet 2 inches. Nate Rencher finished seventh in the 400-meter hurdles in a time of 52.10 seconds. Chandler Goodwin finished fifth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in a time of 8:49.51 to secure the final automatic berth to the NCAA Championships. Freshman Jacob Cosby posted a season best time of 9:05.69 to take the third spot in his heat and 13th place overall.
"We did really well in the high jump and we scored a lot of points," BYU men's track head coach Mark Robison said. "In the team score this is probably the first time we haven't been in the top five in a while. We do know we have seven athletes going to the NCAA Championships, and that is very good. I was very pleased with Ammon, who had a lifetime best and placed sixth. Skyler McDonald did a very good job as well."
The NCAA Outdoor Championship fields will be announced Tuesday and will take place June 6-9.
Athletes that will advance
Name(hometown) Event(rank)
Niklas Arrhenius (Orem, UT) Discus (2)
Bryce Bergen (Evanston, WY) High Jump (24)
Chandler Goodwin (Orem, UT) 3,000-meter Steeplechase (16)
Bob Low (Provo, UT) Pole Vault (18)
Justin Palmer (Tremonton, UT) Decathlon (7)
David Pendergrass (Spokane, WA) High Jump (12)
Josh Rohatinsky (Provo, UT) 10,000 meters (2)
Matt Weirich (Fredericksburg, TX) Pole Vault (16)
Kassi Andersen (Provo, UT) 3,000-meter Steeplechase (14)
Amy Fowler (Austin, TX) 3,000-meter Steeplechase (8)
Kelly Furr (Mechanicsburg, PA) Pole Vault (6)
Jennifer Grossarth (Tooele, UT) 400-meter Hurdles (16)
Heidi Magill (Orem, UT) 1500 meters (24)
Ashley McAllister (Fair Oaks, CA) Pole Vault (15)
Whitney McDonald (Thousand Oaks CA) 10,000 meters (4)
Mindy Neeley (Santa Barbara, CA) Long Jump (6)
Michelle Turner (Orem, UT) 800 meters (13)