PROVO, Utah — BYU men's and women's track and field saw multiple personal bests on the opening day of competition at the Cougar Invitational on Thursday at the Smith Fieldhouse.
Cougar Invite Day One: Hoekstre and Lighthall Lead To Strong Start
Multiple Cougars earned personal bests on day one of the Cougar Invitational, highlighted by Gretchen Hoekstre in the shot put and Joe Lighthall in the 600-yard run
Men's Recap
Mid-distance runner Joe Lighthall finished first at 1:11.26 in the 600-yard run. It was the first time running the distance for the freshman newcomer and a new event overall for the Cougars who will now compete in it as part of the Big 12 Conference.
"It was a great race," said assistant distance coach Ryan Waite. "Joe ran really strong. He executed exactly what we talked about beforehand. He just needs to get a little stronger for that finish. He has six weeks until the Big 12 Championships and if he keeps improving at the rate he has so far, he'll be probably be a contender to score in Lubbock."
Danny Bryant and Harrison Gould finished first and second in the men's shot put throwing 17.87-meters/58-7.5 and 16m/52-6, respectively.
In the men's decathlon, freshman Jaden Roskelley currently sits in second place with 3,015 points. Teammate Aaron Wood sits in fifth place with 2,684 points moving into day two of competition.
Women's Recap
Gretchen Hoekstre highlighted the day for the BYU women throwing 16.69m/54-9 in the shot put. Her mark currently ranks No. 4 in the NCAA thus far in the 2024 indoor season. Hoekstre was only 14 inches off her lifetime best throw of 17.10m/56-1.25, a mark that continues to sit No. 2 all-time in the BYU record books.
Junior Maddy Eaton took second overall in the pentathlon, earning 3,519 points. Eaton had two personal bests through competition. She threw for a new personal best mark of 9.06m/29-8.75 in the shot put and jumped for another best of 5.31m/17-5.0 in the long jump.
"I felt pretty good," said Eaton. "We haven't been tapering, and so we've had harder training this week. I'm happy with the results based on how my body was feeling. PR's are great, and I'm pretty happy about it, but I'm not satisfied."
Other significant performances came from Zoey Bonds tying a personal-best time of 8.75 in the 60m-hurdles and Mayci Taylor winning the high jump with a clearance of 1.73m/5-8.
"It was really fun to watch them today after coming off a long Christmas break," said jumps and multi-events coach Tiffany Hogan. "I was very pleased with their performances. They all have very high expectations for themselves. Some of them left a little disappointed, but I was not. I'm excited about the trajectory of this group."
Up Next
The Cougars will head into the second day of competition starting at 12:30 p.m. with the women's long jump. The second day of the men's heptathlon will begin at 1 p.m. with the 60-meter hurdles.