ALBUQUERQUE -- Mark Robison and the BYU men’s track and field team continued to pile on points on the final day of the MWC Outdoor Track and Field Championships and came away with a dominating victory for their 12th consecutive MWC Outdoor title.
“I am very, very pleased with the results from today,” Robison said. “We still have not lost an MWC outdoor championship, and it feels great. We had some great performances today from a number of people, but also had to deal with more adversity than we did yesterday, but we battled through it and came away with a win.”
The BYU throwers continued to dominate on the fourth day of competition, with the javelin men standing out as the top performers on the day. Chris Reno and Sean Richardson battled back and forth throughout the competition, with Reno ending up on top with a throw of 73.35m (240-08), which is a MWC all-time record. Richardson finished second with a toss of 71.61m (234-11), which also broke the MWC all-time record.
Blaine Baker also scored for the Cougars in the javelin. Baker finished fourth with a throw of 65.64m (215-00) to score five points.
Danny Lawson prevented teammate Leif Arrhenius from winning his third title of the meet by winning the shot put with a toss of 60-03.25. Arrhenius finished second to Lawson, throwing 58-08 to score his 28th points of the meet.
Sophomore Ryan Waite earned his first career MWC championship in the 800m by finishing in 1:48.73. Fellow BYU 800m runner Brian Weirich ran the 800m in 1:50.48, good enough for sixth place.
In his first outdoor MWC Championships meet, junior Chris Little outlasted the competition in the pole vault, winning the event by four feet at 5.40m (17-08.50) despite breaking a pole in the midst of an early jump. Tanner Emrich finished eighth in the pole vault by leaping 5.00m (16-04.75).
The final top performance by the BYU men came in an exhilarating 4x400m relay featuring Derek McAllister, Kevin Beisinger, Waite and Rhyan Atrice. Atrice received the baton in second place, but closed in and passed the TCU anchor to lead the Cougars to a 3:08.81 victory.
“I love the 4x400m because we all rely on each other and I know I am out there with the best guys in the world,” Atrice said. “We want to break the BYU all-time mark at the region or national meet, and I think we can do it.”
Three of the four members of that 4x400m team competed in the 400m final, with Atrice (46.91) edging out TCU senior Clemore Henry (46.95) for second place. Biesinger finished fifth in 47.49 and freshmen McAllister grabbed seventh in 47.89.
Weirich led the way in the 1500m run, finishing second in 3:47.03, just two seconds behind 2010 Indoor mile National Champion Lee Emanuel of New Mexico. Sophomore Josh Adams also put points on the board in the event, finishing in 3:53.01 to place eighth.
In the 110m hurdles, senior Lance Walker took sixth in 14.93 and junior Tanner Emrich finished eighth after a fall on the second hurdle. The 400m hurdles also saw a BYU fall, with Kevin Ahlstrom unable to finish after crashing on the first hurdle. Defending champion Bryan Payne was able to finish in sixth in 51.74 and Walker took seventh in 51.86.
The combination of Emrich, Chris Little, Kevin Ahlstrom and Aaron Powell managed to finish fourth in the 4x100m in 41.32 to add five points to the Cougar total.
Powell also participated in the triple jump, finishing sixth with a distance of 14.70m (48-02.75). Sophomore Kyle Mills also scored in the event by leaping 14.65m (48-00.75) and finishing seventh despite nursing a groin injury.
BYU finished the meet with 211 points, 58 points ahead of the nearest team (New Mexico – 153). With the victory the Cougars continue their reign atop the MWC in outdoor track and field, having never lost a MWC Outdoor Championship.
“New Mexico really came on today with some great performances,” Robison said. “Teams in this league are consistently improving, and today we really had some great competition from start to finish.”
The Cougars have two weeks to rest and recover until the West Region meet takes place in Austin, Texas from May 27-29.
Final results for the MWC Outdoor Track and Field Championships can be found at:
http://www.rtspt.com/events/mwc/2010outdoor/