South Bend, Ind. (Mar. 8, 2008) -- With just one week until the 2008 NCAA Indoor National Championships, a few members from BYU's men's and women's track and field teams gave their best shot at getting a bid into the meet.
Carlee Clark-Platt, Angela Wagner, Keith Jensen and Dustin Bybee traveled to South Bend, Ind., to race in the Notre Dame Alex Wilson Invitational on Satuday.
Clark-Platt ran a career best in the 800-meter run which positions her nicely for a bid into the NCAA Championships. She finished third in her heat and ran a 2:06.41, a national provisional mark. That time is the 10h-best in the nation this season.
Angela Wagner ran in the mile where she set a career-best time of 4:40.44. She finished fourth in her heat and fourth overall. The race started out at a quick pace, with Wagner settling in the back of the pack. With less than 400 meters to go, she moved to the third spot but got edged out at the line for the fourth-place finish.
"The women did really well," BYU distance coach Ed Eyestone said. "It was a very nice effort on their part. Carlee will most likely be into nationals with that time, and Angela's time puts her in really good position."
The women's distance medley relay team, of which Wagner and Clark-Platt are key parts, is still on the bubble in terms of qualifying for nationals. If the DMR team doesn't end up qualifying, Clark-Platt and Wagner will be in a position to run in their individual events.
On the men's side, Dustin Bybee competed in the mile and finished with a time of 4:03.91. That is his second-best time of the season. Bybee ran a 4:01.22 at the University of Washington Invitational in early February.
"Our purpose for coming here was to try and get Bybee qualified, and he was going to need to improve on his 4:01," Eyestone said. "He closed really well but wasn't able to improve on his time."
Keith Jensen ran in the 800-meter run and crossed the line in 1:53.66, a few seconds slower than his season best of 1:48.85. The race started off fast, with the first 400 meters being run in a 51.9-second split. Upon realizing the speed of the race, Jensen throttled it down and couldn't close the gap at the end of the race. His season-best time will most likely be enough to punch his ticket to nationals.
"The 800 went out a little too quick," Eyestone said. "Keith just pulled it back at the end to try and save it for next week."
The NCAA Indoor National Championships start on Thurs., Mar. 14, in Fayetteville, Ark.