Bryant, Thompson earn First Team All-American honors

The Cougars picked up two All-Americans on the opening day of the NCAA Championships.

Author Tyson Jex
Bryant, Thompson earn First Team All-American honorsBryant, Thompson earn First Team All-American honors

EUGENE, Ore. – BYU’s Danny Bryant and Creed Thompson earned First Team All-America honors on Wednesday during the opening day of the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.

Bryant concluded his collegiate career with a sixth-place finish in the shot put, earning First Team All-America honors for a second consecutive championships. He had his best mark of the competition on his first attempt with a throw of 19.71m/64-8. He finishes his time at BYU as a two-time First Team All-American, having won a total of 27 shot put competitions during his time in Provo.

Thompson finished eighth in the 10,000-meters in his first appearance at the outdoor championships. He stayed patient throughout the race but saw himself in 12th place heading into the final lap. The Lehi native ran the fourth-fastest final lap, 55.89, to cross the finish line in 29:11.44 to conclude a season where he earned All-America honors in cross country, indoor and outdoor track & field.

Joey Nokes finished his collegiate career with a 14th-place finish as the senior ran 29:19.76 to pick up Second Team All-America accolades in his first trip to Eugene for outdoor nationals.

Ben Barton sits in third place after the opening five events of the decathlon as the senior scored 4,190 points. Jaden Roskelly isn’t far behind his teammate as the junior is seventh with 4,062 after running a personal-best time in the fifth and final competition of day one, the 400-meters.

Barton opened competition with the fourth-fastest time in the 100-meter as the junior ran 10.67 for 935 points. After fouling his first two attempts in the long jump, he went 7.01m/23-0 on his third and final attempt to add 816 points to his total. He would add 647 points in the shot put (12.67m/41-7) and 813 points in the high jump (2.01m/6-7). The Bloomfield Hills, Mich. native finished the opening day with 979 points in the 400-meters running 46.59, .10 off his personal best in the event.

Roskelley ran 10.89 in the 100m dash for 885 points before needing three attempts, like Barton, to get a clean mark in the long jump. He would go a centimeter farther than his teammate, 7.02m/23-5, for 818 points to sit in 10th following two events. Following 672 points in the shot put, Roskelley moved from 13th to sixth with a clearance of 2.04m/6-8.25 in the high jump, worth 840 points. He continued his strong finish, running a personal best time of 49.31 in the 400m for 847 points, which gave him 4,062 after the opening five events.

James Corrigan advanced to the 3,000-meter steeplechase final for a second consecutive year as the junior finished fourth in his heat, crossing the finish line in 8:24.97. The native of Los Angeles, Calif., methodically moved his way up the pack during the race before joining the lead group with three laps to go and securing one of the five automatic qualifying spots.

Eli Hazlett, Jonah Heimuli, Josh Taylor and Trey Jackson became the first BYU 4x400-meter relay to qualify for the finals outdoors since 2015 as the quartet ran 3:03.83 to finish fourth in their heat and secure the final time qualifier for Friday’s final.

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Roskelley and Barton will compete in the final five events of the decathlon on Thursday, June 12.