Fayetteville, Ark. — No. 14 BYU women’s track and field qualified three athletes for the National Championships on their first day of competition in the NCAA Division I West Preliminary at John McDonnell Field on Thursday.
Ashton Riner and Alex McAllister both punched their tickets to Eugene in the javelin, placing first and seventh overall, respectively. Riner’s opening throw of 57.25m/187-10 put her in first, where she would remain throughout flight three and the event.
“There was a lot of pressure hanging on Ashton as she came in ranked No. 1 in the country,” BYU assistant coach Niklas Arrenhius said. “It’s tough when everyone is looking at you and the announcer is mentioning that you’re No. 1, but she did what she needed to, to qualify for Nationals."
McAllister’s third throw of 52.26m/171-5 had her in first overall at the end of flight two. She was overtaken by six athletes from the third flight, including Riner, but remained in qualifying position, sealing women’s javelin’s second bid to Nationals, a first in program history.
“It just feels good," McAllister said. “All the time I’ve put into this, the years of throwing, it’s cool that it came down to one more chance. I’m glad I pulled it off. I’m excited to end my collegiate javelin career on a high note. I’m super grateful for all the coaches that have led me here, both Coach Nik (Niklas Arrhenius) and my coaches at Southern Utah. I’m excited for Nationals!”
Including Michael Whittaker on the men’s side, the Cougars will send three javelin throwers to Eugene. McAllister’s mark also moved her up from No. 9 to No. 3 all-time in program history.
"Alex graduated from Southern Utah last year and transferred to BYU with the sole purpose of making it to Nationals,” Arrhenius said. “She finished 13th at the preliminary meet last year. It was amazing to see her qualify for Nationals on what could have been the very last throw of her collegiate career. I wanted her to be here. It means a lot to me to see her reach Nationals.”
Adaobi Tabugbo advanced to the quarterfinals of the 100-meter hurdles. Racing in the final heat and up against both national and world No. 2 Demisha Roswell from Texas Tech, Tabugbo clocked a 13.48 to take the final quarterfinal qualifying spot.
Carmen Alder (4:18.235), Kate Hunter (4:21.15) and Heather Hanson (4:21.34) each finished in the top-5 of their respective 1500-meter heats to advance to a quarterfinal on Saturday.
Halley Folsom Walker advanced in the 400-meter hurdles, running a 57.67 to move onto Saturday’s quarterfinal. The time also bumped her from No. 6 to No. 5 in school history.
Claire Seymour (2:04.998) and Lauren Ellsworth-Barnes (2:05.99) were the last two Cougars to move on in their respective event. The pair’s times in the 800-meters also qualified them for a Saturday quarterfinal.
The 10,000-meters under the lights concluded day one for the women at John McDonnell. Aubrey Frentheway clinched her bid to Eugene, finishing 11th with a time of 33:55.84 to qualify for Nationals.
Sable Lohmeier El-Bakri, Jessica Thompson, Nicole Freestone, Libby Parkinson, Sadie Sargent, Anastaysia Davis, Alena Ellsworth, Annalise Hart, Gretchen Hoekstre, Sierra Freeland, Kayla Perry, Rebekah Ross, Cailee Faulkner, McKenna Lee and Anna Martin were each eliminated in first round competition on Thursday.
Women’s action continues Saturday, including quarterfinal competition for Tabugbo, Alder, Hunter, Hanson, Folsom Walker, Seymour and Ellsworth-Barnes. The BYU men will conclude their preliminary competition on Friday at 1 p.m. CDT with live stream coverage beginning at 5 p.m. CDT on SEC Network+.