PROVO, Utah – BYU track and field saw a program best performance from Ben Barton in the heptathlon to start the 2024 BYU December Invite.
"It feels really good," said Barton. "I was feeling pretty sick going into this meet, but we thought we could still get some good marks in and maybe get a national qualifier, and I think we did that. Coach Hogan has been huge because she's, you know, she's been everywhere that I've been, everywhere that I want to go, winning nationals multiple times and being an Olympian. So she's being able to walk me through every step of the process and got me feeling as good as I could be feeling."
Barton secured 5814 points through seven events over the two days of competition. The junior from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan bested the previous school record of 5,728 points which was held by Kevin Nielsen since 2017. Barton surpassed his own personal best by 121 points.
"Our goal going into the meet was to focus on each individual event," said said multi-events coach Tiffany Hogan. "The part we didn't consider was how sick he's been the last couple weeks. It just drained him. Coming back from day one, he was incredibly tired. He couldn't even go back to a full approach on his pole vault, so we are very happy with how his performance turned out and knowing how much more is in store for the future."
Women’s Recap
Gretchen Hoekstre won all three throwing events on day one of competition. The senior from Seaside, Oregon threw 17.41m/57-1.5 in the weight throw, 16.23m/53-3 in the shot put and 52.77m/173-1.5 in the discus.
“I wasn’t expecting much coming into this meet as I’ve been fighting injuries all year so far,” said Hoekstre. “This was the first time I felt like I could see the big picture. I've decided for my final year I’m just going to do everything I can to have as much fun as possible and a sweep was a pretty good way to start.”
Maddie Passmore won the long jump and triple jump as the lone BYU woman to compete on day two. The junior from Clovis, California opened up her indoor season with 11.91m/39-1 in the triple jump and tied her indoor personal best of 5.74m/18-10 in the long jump.
Up Next
The BYU women's and men's track and field program will continue competition Thursday at the Smith Fieldhouse beginning with the women's pole valut at 10 a.m. MT. Live results can be found here.