Cutting breaks school record, advances to NCAA final

EUGENE, Ore. – Carter Cutting became the fastest BYU athlete ever in the 1500-meter alongside securing his spot in the NCAA final while Ben Barton set personal records on his way to lead the decathlon standings through five events on opening day of the NCAA Outdoor National Championships at Hayward Field Wednesday.

the new 1500m school record holder races in the championship round on friday at 5:12pm pt. be there.

📺: ESPN2 pic.twitter.com/PzDsVVyxMo

— BYU Track & Field/Cross Country (@BYUTFXC) June 11, 2026

Cutting set his second school record this year by chopping 0.3 seconds off the previous best BYU record and nearly two seconds off his personal best in a 3:35.95 finish in the semifinals of the 1500m. The Wilsonville, Oregon product returned to the track he calls “home” to secure a spot in the national final race in the event to take place Friday with his second place overall finish. 

"Hayward Field feels like my home track," Cutting said, "I still feel like the underdog despite winning the indoor mile this year, but whatever comes on Friday pace wise I'm ready for it, coach Waite went deep in his bag to help me be ready for what we will see in the final."

Cutting closed the last fifty meters of the race fist bumping Michigan’s Trent Mcfarland as they crossed the line together to take second and third to automatically qualify for the final race. The decorated junior is the reigning national champion and BYU record holder in the indoor mile. Cutting is set to race against the nation's finest Friday including Oregon’s NCAA record holder Simeon Birnbaum.

Ben Barton finished the first half of the decathlon sitting atop the standings after taking first in three of the five events. The senior, who is no stranger to the national stage in his third national championship decathlon, opened the day with a 10.65 second 100-meter in which he finished first to secure 940 points. He then finished third in the long jump with a personal record distance of 7.40m/24-3.5 garnering him 910 points. That is an improvement of 0.14 meters or just under six inches for the Bloomfield Hills, Michigan native. 

Barton then nabbed 693 points in his 13th place finish in the shot put with a toss of 13.43m/44-0.75 before closing the day with back-to-back wins in the high jump and 400-meter. The All-American set another personal record in the high jump clearing 2.13m/6-11.75 in a nearly flawless series of jumps that scored him 925 points. Barton finished first in the 400-meter with a 47.25 second finish that secured an additional 946 points. The senior competing in his final season as a Cougar ended the day with 4414 points leading the competition by more than 130 points.

The 4x400-meter relay group featuring senior and All-American Josh Taylor, junior Jonah Heimuli, sophomore Jayden Jessee and junior Logan Hubler competed in the semifinals of the national race. The group finished 20th overall in a time of 3:04.93 to become honorable metion All-Americans.

Full Results

Up Next

Barton finishes out the final five events of the decathlon on Thursday. Cutting will compete in the 1500m final on Friday being joined on the day by Tayvon Kitchen and Isaac Hedengren who compete in the 5000m final that evening. Streaming for the decathlon continues on ESPN+ with live coverage of track events available on ESPN 2.