PROVO -- It was a dynamic final outdoor home meet for the No. 21 BYU men’s track and field teams as several more athletes qualified for regionals and set personal records at the BYU Invitational Collegiate Tri-Meet.
“Today was incredible,” said BYU men’s track and field head coach Mark Robison. “We had four new athletes qualify from the men’s team and it was a day filled with great performances. I was very happy with the way things turned out.”
Adding to the men’s already accomplished list of regional qualifiers, four more athletes from the men’s team stepped up their performances to get the job done.
From the 3000-meter steeplechase, sophomore Regan Frey landed a first-place finish and regional qualifying time of 8:55.39.
With incredible performances in the 800-meter, freshman Justin Hedin set a new personal best with a first-place time of 1:49.62 while junior Drew Foster closed in for second with a personal best and regional qualifying time of 1:50.33.
“This has been three years coming,” said Foster. “I’m excited to have made the mark. Now I need to focus really hard on training for regionals and hopefully continue to improve.”
Recording a personal best in the 400-meter dash, freshman Rhyan Atrice solidified a first-place mark and regional-qualifying time of 47.16. Junior All-American Kevin Biesinger came in second with 47.31.
Bringing attention to another distance event, sophomore Miles Batty anchored the top-three spots for BYU with a first-place and personal best time of 3:42.47. In second, earning another regional mark for the Cougars, freshman Travis Fuller placed second in 3:46.85 while senior Robert Harrison secured third with 3:47.83.
In the pole vault, senior All-American Whitney Neves and Bob Low recorded personal bests clearing dual heights of 5.43 meters (17 feet 9.75 inches) placing both in the top 10, nationally. Chris Little and Brad Ellertson closed in the third and fourth-place spots with heights of 5.05 meters (16 feet 6.75 inches) for Little and 4.90 meters (16 feet 1 inch) for Ellertson.
Other personal bests included Trevor Heinor in the high jump with a final height of 210 meters, Anse Myller DeArujo in the both the long jump, landing a distance of 6.88 meters and the triple jump with a first-place mark of 14.77 meters. Kyle Mills also set a personal record in the triple jump, coming in third with a distance of 14.28 and Matthew Johnston placed second in the javelin with a mark of 58.39 meters.
Junior Danny Lawson and sophomore Oliver Whaley secured additional winning events for the Cougars. While Lawson placed first in the discus with a distance of 52.71 meters (172 feet 11.25 inches), Whaley secured first in the hammer throw with a distance of 53.20 meters (174 feet 6.50 inches).
The Cougars will compete in the last meet before the Mountain West Conference Championships on Tuesday at the Twilight Invitational Tuesday.