PROVO, Utah – All-American Brenna Porter set a school record in the 500m as three BYU track and field athletes moved up the school's all-time record board at the BYU Indoor Invite.
“You always like to get the year started off well and I feel like we can say that,” BYU head coach Ed Eyestone said. “We had some great performances and had some of our athletes earn top-10 records at BYU.”
Porter broke the school record in the 500m on Saturday with a time of 1:11.58. The senior almost stumbled at the finish but was still able to break the 32-year-old record set by Stephanie Packham in February 1987 by nine-hundredths of a second.
Jacob Foutz continued to have a career season in the weight throw as he moved up to No. 8 all-time at BYU with a toss of 19.52m/64-0.5 on Thursday. The senior started the indoor season off with strong December performances, moving into the 10th all-time position before matching that same throw the following meet.
In her collegiate debut, Jaslyn Gardner made her mark on the program record book, tying the fifth-fastest 60m in school history with a time of 7.51. Eyestone was impressed with the freshman’s immediate impact and noted that she is the future of the short-sprints group.
All-American Andrea Stapleton-Johnson started the year off strong in the high jump with a mark of 1.83m/6-0. The top 16 high jumpers in the country advance to the NCAA Indoor Championships and this height puts the senior in early position to potentially qualify.
“Andrea had a great meet in the high jump and the mark she got is usually good enough to get into the national meet,” Eyestone said. “It’s exciting to start planning on people for the NCAA Championships because it is so difficult to do.”
Raul Rios cleared a career-best 5.20m/17-0.75 in the pole vault and teammate Jameson Shirley cleared a season-best 5.05m/16-6.75. Rios, Shirley and two BYU athletes competing unattached all cleared the 16-foot height.
“The pole vault group all hit marks that would probably qualify all of them for regionals in outdoors,” Eyestone said. “We probably have one of the deepest pole vault crews in the country.”
The Cougars will next travel to compete at the Air Force Invite on Friday, Jan. 18, at Air Force Academy’s Cadet Field House. Full stats from the BYU Indoor Invite can be found on runnercard.com. Live stats and meet information can be found on the BYU track and field schedule page two days before the meet.