How BYU men athletes and other Utah ties fared at NCAA track and field prelims – Deseret News

As expected, BYU’s Olympic steeplechaser, James Corrigan, advanced to the NCAA track and field championships during Friday’s NCAA West prelims in College Station, Texas.

Corrigan, who produced a time of 8:13.87 to qualify for last summer’s Olympic Games, ran just hard enough Friday to win his heat.

His time of 8:31.79 in the first of three heats was the fifth-fastest time overall. The top 12 in each event qualify for the national championships, which will be held in two weeks in Eugene, Oregon.

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Corrigan’s teammate, Luke Grundvig, also advanced in the 5,000-meter run, finishing 11th with a time of 13:34.63.

Two days earlier, teammates Joey Nokes and Creed Thompson finished 10th and 11th in the 10,000-meter run to qualify for nationals. They also competed in Friday’s 5,000-meter semifinals, finishing 16th and 20th, respectively.

BYU’s 4 x 400-meter relay team of Eli Hazlett, Josh Taylor, Jonah Heimuli and Trey Jackson qualified for nationals by placing eighth overall with a time of 3:03.65.

BYU’s freshman find, Tyler Mathews, finished 17th in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:48.13. Earlier this season he clocked a time of 1:46.19, second-fastest in school history.

Danny Bryant threw the discus a personal-record 189 feet, 1 inch, but placed 15th, two feet shy of a top 12 finish. Lucas Bons and Carter Cutting, meanwhile, failed to advance out of the quarterfinals in the 1,500-meter run.

One of the biggest surprises of the meet among Utah entries was the performance of Utah Valley’s 4 x 100 relay team of Gavin Stafford, Cameron Franklin, Kade Thompson and Gabe Remy. They finished second in their heat and eighth overall with a school-record time of 39.13.

UVU coach Paul Smith, a former BYU sprinter, has quietly built a strong sprint squad, qualifying sprinters for the NCAA prelims in the 100-, 200- and 400-meter dashes and the 4×100. His sprinters set school records in all four events this season.

BYU, which had posted a time of 39.78 this season, was disqualified in the 4 x 100.

While the men competed Friday, the women will take the stage on Saturday to conclude the four-day competition, and BYU has several outstanding entries.

Meghan Hunter, a senior from Provo, ran a school-record time of 1:58.99 in the Big 12 Conference championships two weeks ago, making her the third-fastest collegian ever.

Lexie Lowry, a senior from Meridian, Idaho, is the fifth-fastest collegian ever in both the 3,000-meter steeplechase and the 5,000-meter run. She will contest only the steeplechase in Saturday’s meet because there isn’t enough recovery time between events.

Sami Oblad, a senior from Stansbury Park, set a school record of 50.49 in the 400-meter dash earlier this season. She has the third-fastest time heading into Saturday’s NCAA quarterfinals.