BYU Men Take Fourth at Big 12 Championships

WACO, Texas - The BYU men's track and field team finished fourth overall at the Big 12 Outdoor Track and Field Championships with a score of 83 points at the Clyde Hart Track and Field Stadium Saturday night. 

Full Results

"For the men to take that step up to finish fourth overall in the conference is something to be excited about,” said director of track and field Ed Eyestone. “It will help with our focus as we go into the regional and nationals meets. I thought the athletes showed great determination and flexibility with the adverse conditions we had. We had multiple lightning delays that caused some of our athletes to race at midnight. They put on amazing performances regardless, so overall we are really excited about all the good things that happened over the last three days.”

 

The Cougars third day of competition saw Dallin Shurts take second in the men's discus with a throw of 60.59m/201-10. Shurts contributed eight points for the Cougars. 

Sebastian Fernandez took second overall in the 800-meters later in the afternoon, clocking 1:46.32 across the line. Fernandez moved to No. 2 in the BYU all-time program records. The junior for Andover, Minnesota has had back-to-back personal bests performances, coming off his recent facility record performance of 1:46.77 at the Robison Invite just two weeks prior. 

"Sebastian is running really well right now," said assistant distance coach Ryan Waite. "His training has gone as well as we could hope and now he has learned how to better mentally prepare and execute on race day. This was another great step for him towards even bigger things in his season and career." 

Riley Hunt improved upon his No. 5 all-time performance in the 110m hurdles time, crossing the finish in 13.91. Hunt secured eight place and a podium spot for BYU. 

Quotes

Sebastian Fernandez

"When the gun went off, I just felt so relaxed and was just trying to get a decent spot. Then at about 400-meters, some guys started making moves and I was boxed in pretty hard so I was trying to get out of that. With 200m to go I sent it because that was the plan and I started to make up some ground on the guys but I didn’t think I was going to get them until about 75m left. I wish I hadn’t of been boxed in as hard I think I could’ve been more in contention to win it, but I’m super happy about the new personal best. The whole race just zoomed by. I didn’t really even think it was just all instinct."

Riley Hunt

"It was a solid race. You can never complain about getting a personal best at a big meet like this. The race was a battle. I really had to fight to come back and out lean people to get the podium spot, but there are still a lot of places to improve. I'm always glad to be able to contribute points for the championships. Through all the adversity that we all went through this meet - with the delays and rough weather - I’m proud of everyone for showing up and showing out."

Up Next

The Cougars will return to action for the NCAA Mountain Regionals held May 22th through 25th at the John McDonnell Track and Field Complex in Fayetteville, Arkansas.