NEW ORLEANS - After a successful weekend in their first Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships, the BYU men's track and field team jumped an impressive eight spots to No. 8 in the national polls, by far their highest ranking of the season.
The jump in the polls is largely due to the impressive finish of BYU's distance medley relay team of Rex Shields, Shaquille Walker, Ryan Waite and Miles Batty, who won the event in 9:29.00, a time that not only qualified the team for nationals and set a new school record, but also secured them the best collegiate time in the event so far this sesason.
Along with the first place finish in the DMR, Batty also finished first in the 800m, an event in which three Cougars finished in the top five. Cade Lindahl also had an impressive finish in the 400m, improving on his career-best time by a whole second and setting a new school record, with a time of 46.25.
The Cougars secured an impressive top-five finish in their first MPSF Championships, a meet that presented tough competition, including five top-20 teams.
The team, so far, will be well represented at the 2012 Indoor National Championships in Idaho next weekend, with Miles Batty (mile) and the DMR team looking to defend their national championships, as well as Victor Weirich looking to secure a championship of his own in the pole vault.
A full list of participants for nationals will be released next Monday.