PROVO, Utah – Clayton Young, Rory Linkletter, Andrea Stapleton-Johnson and Shea Collinsworth have been nominated as finalists for the 2017 Curtis Pugsley Award.
The Curtis Pugsley Award is BYU track and field’s highest honor, and is given annually to one male and one female athlete. The award is named after former BYU All-American and conference champion decathlete Curtis Pugsley, who passed away in 2013 after battling cancer. A scoring system based on accomplishments in the 2017 indoor and outdoor seasons determines the winner.
Young was named a second-team All-American for both the indoor and outdoor seasons in 2017. During the indoor season, Young ran a career-best 7:49.76 in the 3000m at the UW Invitational to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships and give him the fourth-best time in school history. The sophomore clocked an 8:02.11 and took ninth place overall in the 3000m at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Young recorded the sixth-fastest time in BYU history with a time of 28:45.36 in the 10000m. He finished third overall in the 5000m (14:14.47) and seventh overall in the 10000m (29:56.58) at the NCAA West Prelims to qualify for the NCAA Championships. Young went on to finish 10th place in the 5000m (14:38.45) and 17th place in the 10000m (29:39.80) at the NCAA Championships.
Linkletter ran the sixth-best time in school history and qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships in the 5000m after clocking a 13:49.00 at the Iowa State Classic. The second-team indoor All-American finished second overall in the 5000m (13:59.49) at the MPSF Indoor Championships and took 11th in the 5000m (13:57.62) at the NCAA Indoor Championships. The sophomore qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships after clocking a 29:51.63 to take second place in the 10000m at the NCAA West Prelims. Linkletter was named a first-team All-American after taking second overall in the 10000m at the NCAA Championships with a time of 29:02.96.
Stapleton-Johnson jumped a career-record 1.84m in the high jump early in the indoor season to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships. The mark ended up being the 13th best jump in the nation that season and is the seventh-best indoor high jump mark all-time at BYU. She finished third in the high jump at the MPSF Championships and took 13th at the NCAA Indoor Championships. During the outdoor season, the second-team All-American had the 18th-best mark in the nation with a jump of 1.82m. Stapleton-Johnson qualified for the NCAA Championships after taking fifth place at the NCAA West Prelims (1.79m). The sophomore finished 16th overall at the NCAA Championships with a jump of 1.78m.
Collinsworth won the 2016 Curtis Pugsley Award as a junior and continued to have success on the track throughout her senior year. The indoor and outdoor first-team All-American broke the BYU indoor record in the 800m with at time of 2:01.42. She followed up that record-breaking performance a couple weeks later with another by clocking a 4:35.76 in the mile to set the new all-time record at BYU. Collinsworth concluded the indoor season taking first overall in the 800m at the NCAA Indoor Championships with a time of 2:02.35. During the outdoor season, Collinsworth ran a 2:01.51 in the 800m to mark the third fastest time in BYU’s outdoor track history. She finished 10th in the 800m (2:05.09) at the NCAA West Prelims and qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Collinsworth finished her career with a fourth place finish in the 800m at the NCAA Outdoor Championships (2:02.30).
Shaquille Walker and Collinsworth won the 2016 Curtis Pugsley Award. The two mid-distance runners were joined by high jumper Zachary Blackham and hurdler Alyssa Dalton as finalists for the award.
The two winners will be announced at the special award ceremony held on Tuesday, Feb. 27 at 7 p.m. in the Blue Zone at LaVell Edwards Stadium.