Cougars Prepare for December Home Meet

PROVO, Utah — BYU men's and women's track and field will host the December Invitational Dec. 10-12 in the Smith Fieldhouse. 

Location: George Albert Smith Fieldhouse - Provo, Utah

Dates: Tues. 12/10 - Thurs. 12/12

Live Results: Sporttrax

Meet Schedule

"This meet is a great opportunity," said director of track and field Ed Eyestone. "Our cross country runners have had plenty of racing opportunities and obviously phenomenal seasons for our men's and women's teams, but the rest of the athletes have been training, working hard, doing fall conditioning, and this really marks the start of the the indoor season for them. I think our athletes race very well at home as well. I don't know if it's a matter of having their friends and loved ones there to watch, or if it's just the fact that they've slept in their beds the night before and they're in a set routine, but sometimes we get some of our best performances of the year out of these two home meets." 

Men's Preview

Six athletes on the men's team competed at the 2024 Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener on Dec. 7. Sophomore middle-distance runner Carter Cutting broke the four-minute mile at the competiton, achieving a new personal best and No. 9 all-time in program records. 

The home meet will serve as the first meet of the season for each of the other event groups. 

The sprints/hurdles group will feature Riley Hunt in the 60-meter high hurdles this week. Hunt broke the school record in the 110m high hurdle outdoor event earlier this year with a 13.70. 

The throws group will be headlined by Outdoor First Team All-American Danny Bryant who threw 20.02m/65-8.25 in the outdoor shot put this June at the NCAA Championships. 

The multi/jumps group will see returning standout Ben Barton back on the the track. Barton holds the No. 2 spot in the indoor heptathlon with 5,693 points. "Ben is ready," said assistant coach Tiffany Hogan. "He's already looking at trying to get a national qualifier at this first meet. I'm trying to get him to focus a little bit more on the on the process, rather than the outcome. So he's really picking up on some of the events, and some of the skills that we're trying to make some adjustments on and he looks great."

The pole vault group will see three men compete this weekend. "This will be an exciting year for the pole vault," said assistant coach Rick McWhorter. "On the men's side we have our two transfers, Ethan Amata and Austin Cox, that could both also potentially score points at the Big 12 meet this year. Good things are happening."

Women's Preview

The women's distance squad competed at the Boston Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener Dec. 7. Meghan Hunter and true freshman Tessa Buswell earned program top-10 marks in the 800m as Hunter ran 2:02.03 for No. 3 all time and Buswell ran 2:04.01 for No. 9 all-time.

The women's sprints, hurdles, jumps and throws will compete at this week's home meet.

The sprints and hurdles group will be led by indoor and outdoor 400m school-recorder holder, Sami Oblad. "She will be the one to watch in the 300m this week as she prepares to improve upon her school record in the 400m her senior year," said coach Kyle Grossarth. "All of the women have been working really hard in the fall." The December Invite will be the first appearance in a BYU uniform for more than half of Grossarth's sprints and hurdles squad.

The throws group is headlined by discus school-record holder Gretchen Hoekstre. The senior from Seaside, Oregon will be competing in each of the three throws being contested: shot put, weight throw and discus. Five true freshman will make their BYU debut across various throwing events. "We are hoping to get some new PR's and a good start to the indoor season before the break," said throws coach Niklas Arrhenius. 

Pole vaulters Rebekah Erikson and Maren Garnett will lead the jumps and multis group. "I expect the jumps and multis group to perform quite well this week," said Hogan. "Our training has gone exceptionally well and many of the returning athletes are ahead of where they were at this time last year."

Up Next

Following the New Year, the Cougars will host the BYU Indoor Invitational Jan. 9-11 in the Smith Fieldhouse.