PROVO, Utah — BYU men’s track and field recorded three school top-10’s and four personal records as the team resumed competition at the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays while distance embarked on day one of two at the Stanford Invitational.
Texas Relays
The men’s 4x400-meter relay team qualified for tomorrow’s final (4:35 p.m. CDT) after bolting to a 3:05.29 finish en route to a No. 4 all-time school performance. The squad consisted of Trey Jackson, Eli Hazlett, Jace Jensen and Josh Taylor, three of whom set the all-time 4x400m BYU indoor record in February. They placed just 0.81 seconds behind first-place Kentucky, a squad that entered the weekend No. 2 in the nation.
“Our men’s 4x400 squad got the job done,” BYU Director of Track and Field Ed Eyestone said. “The mark puts them squarely in tomorrow’s final and they are prepared to improve that mark on Saturday.”
Veteran thrower Dallin Shurts picked up where he left off last season, nearly matching his No. 6 all-time discus throw mark set last season at the USATF Championships as he threw a 62.21m/204-1 Friday. He finished second overall to place ahead of nationally top-ranked Dijimon Gumbs of Northwestern State and No. 4 Claudio Romero of LSU.
Cameron Bates took fifth in the javelin throw, posting a 76.07m/249-7 for what would be second all-time in BYU history had he not already held the school record set in 2021.
Easton Bianchi posted a new personal best in the 100-meters at 10.37 as he placed 14th in a crowded field of 141 athletes.
Stanford Invitational
Kenneth Rooks took first in the 3,000-meter steeplechase as he crossed the line at 8:33.60, a time good for No. 2 in the country entering the weekend. The junior’s performance put him nearly six seconds ahead of the runner-up.
“I was super happy with the distance performances tonight,” Eyestone said. “The highlight was Kenneth Rooks winning the steeplechase in commanding fashion with the number two time overall in the country. The 5,000-meter crew came through as well with Joey and Creed running new top times in school history.”
For the 5,000-meter race, Joey Nokes became No. 6 all-time at BYU, finishing with a time of 13:32.01 to surpass Ed Eyestone’s 13:32.52 performance in 1984. Creed Thompson joined in on the fun as well, moving his way to No. 9 all-time at 13:34.46 as he surpassed olympian Jared Ward by 0.28 seconds. The pair of sophomores join teammates Brandon Garnica (No. 4) and Casey Clinger (No. 1) to make four of the top-ten in the event current BYU athletes.
Luke Grundvig also stood atop his section of the 5,000-meters, posting a time of 13:49.76 in his first-ever outdoor track and field event. Sebastian Fernandez took second overall in his first outdoor 1,500-meter race (3:46.58) while Garrett Stanford and James Corrigan set new personal records in the steeplechase with times of 9:12.59 and 9:02.84, respectively.
The Cougars resume competition Saturday with the first men’s event at the Texas relays, the 4x200-meter, at 11:00 a.m. CDT. The first event at Stanford will be the men’s 800-meters at 2:40 p.m. PDT.