What to expect from BYU – Deseret News

Given the runaway inflation of track and field performances lately, it’s insanely difficult to qualify for the NCAA outdoor track championships, or, for that matter, the NCAA Prelims.

The top 48 athletes in the country – based on season performances – qualify for the preliminary meet. The slowest time in the 100-meter dash field is 10.29; the slowest time in the 1,500 is 3:37.52 – the equivalent of a 3:54.9 mile.

Given that, it’s worth noting that this year marks the tenth time that BYU has qualified more than 50 athletes (male and female combined) for this weekend’s NCAA West Preliminary track and field meet in College Station, Texas (The East prelims will be held in Jacksonville, Fla.).

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Utah State has 21 qualifiers; Utah Valley, 15 qualifiers.

The men will compete Wednesday and Friday, the women Thursday and Saturday.

The top 12 in each event at both regional sites will advance to the NCAA Outdoor Championships, which will be held June 11-14 in Eugene, Oregon.

Four Utah collegians are threats to win an individual national championship – BYU’s Meghan Hunter, Lexy Lowry and James Corrigan and Utah State’s Logan Hammer.

Hunter, a converted sprinter from Provo High who holds the all-classification high school 400-meter state record of 52.59, laid down a 1:58.99 time to win the 800-meter run at the Big 12 Conference championships two weeks ago. It makes her the third fastest collegian ever.

The 800 is one of the most competitive races in the country this year. It will include LSU’s Michaela Rose and Stanford Olympian Juliette Whittaker, winners of the last two NCAA championships, as well as Stanford’s Roisin Willis, a former NCAA indoor champ. Rose is the second fastest collegian ever.

Lowry, a senior from Meridian, Idaho, has the nation’s second fastest time in the 5,000 and the third fastest time in the steeplechase. She broke the BYU school record at 5,000 meters held by Olympian Whittni Morgan, taking it from 15:12.90 to 14:52.93. Lowry ranks fifth on the alltime collegiate list in both the 5,000 and the steeplechase.

Corrigan, who represented the U.S. in last summer’s Paris Olympics, might give up his collegiate eligibility at the end of the season to sign a professional contract.

“It depends how well he runs at NCAAs and USAs,” says BYU coach Ed Eyestone. “As well as he is running now, I would say yes.”

A junior, Corrigan has the nation’s third fastest time in the steeplechase – 8:22.20. A year ago Corrigan ran 8:13.87, which easily eclipsed the American collegiate record of 8:16.23, but it doesn’t count because it wasn’t in a collegiate competition. In his most recent outing, Corrigan, who finished third in last summer’s U.S. Olympic trials, won both the steeplechase and the 5,000 in meet-record times at the Big 12 Conference championships.

Hammer, a junior from Nampa, Idaho, ranks second in the nation in the pole vault with a school-record clearance of 18-8 ¼. Teammates Javin Richards and Marshall Rasmussen (17-4 ½, 17-0 ¼) also have qualified for the prelims.

Utah collegians are strongest, as usual, in the distance and middle-distance events. They have a combined total of 29 athletes ranked in the top 25 of the 800, 1,500, 3,000 steeplechase, 5,000 and 10,000.

One of them is Riley Chamberlain, BYU’s 5-foot-10 junior who can cover a wide range of distances. In the national rankings, she is ninth in the 800, 17th in the 1,500 and 12th in the 5,000.

BYU’s Tyler Mathews and Tessa Buswell, who were in high school a year ago, have had brilliant freshman seasons. Both rank in the top 20 in the 800. Mathews is already the second fastest 800-meter runner in BYU history, with a time of 1:46.19; Buswell ranks eighth with a time of 2:02.26 in an event in which BYU has excelled for years.

Sami Oblad, a converted heptathlete from Stansbury Park, is wrapping up an impressive senior season. She ranks sixth in the nation in the 400-metre dash with a time of 50.49, by the far the fastest ever at BYU.

Carlee Hansen, a senior from Woods Cross who transferred to BYU from North Carolina in 2023, covered 1,500 meters in 4:08.70 en route to a second-place finish at the Big 12 Conference championships, a 2 ½-second improvement over her best time. She fell just short of the school record of 4:08.53 set by Anna Camp in winning the 2021 NCAA championships.

Utah Valley’s Quincy Bonds, who ranks 20th nationally in the 100-meter hurdles, is one of four sisters who are outstanding all-around athletes. Quincy competed for the University of Arizona soccer team for three years before transferring to UVU to compete in both soccer and track. Tiana was a pentathlete for the University of Arizona. Talie was a first-team All-American in the 100-meter hurdles at Arizona. Zoey, a junior at BYU, became the eighth fastest 100-meter hurdler in school history this season with a time of 13.52. She also competes in the heptathlon.

BYU will be without All-American Casey Clinger, who signed a professional contract with Brooks this season and thus is ineligible for collegiate competition. Before leaving BYU, he broke a 40-year-old school record in the 10,000-meter run set by Eyestone, his coach. Clinger posted a time of 27:11.00; Eyestone’s mark was 27:41.05.

Here’s a list of Utah collegians who rank among the top 25 in their events.

100 meters

#25 Gabe Remy, UVU (10.09)

200 meters

#20 Gabe Remy, UVU (20.41)

400 meters

#18 Eli Hazlett, BYU (45.35)

#6 Sami Oblad, BYU (50.49)

800 meters

#17 Tyler Mathews, BYU (1:46.19)

#2 Meghan Hunter, BYU (1:58.99)

#9 Riley Chamberlain, BYU (2:01.42)

#20 Tessa Buswell, BYU (2:02.66)

1,500 meters

#23 Carter Cutting BYU (3:37.31)

#14 Carlee Hansen, BYU (4:08.70)

#15 Lexy Lowry, BYU (4:08.89)

#17 Riley Chamberlain, BYU (4:09.49)

#23 Erin Vringer, Utah (4:10.23)

5,000 meters

#13 James Corrigan BYU (13:25.46)

#16 Joey Nokes, BYU (13:27.89)

#23 Creed Thompson, BYU (13:29.22)

#2 Lexy Lowry, BYU (14:52.93)

#8 Jenna Hutchins, BYU (15:16.95)

#12 Riley Chamberlain, BYU (15:23.88)

10,000 meters

#18 Mohamed Guled, UVU (27:58.41)

#22 Joey Nokes, BYU (28:06.44)

#24 Todd Camren, USU (28:10.91)

#11 Jenna Hutchins, BYU (32:22.98)

#16 Morgan Jensen, Utah (32:33.52)

3,000m steeplechase

#3 James Corrigan, BYU (8:22.20)

#9 Isaac Hedengren, BYU (8:30.01)

#14 Landon heemeyer, BYU (8:33.50)

#15 Logan Garnica, USU (8:33.91)

#18 Peter Visser, WSU (8:35.98)

#23 Abdulsalam Farah, UVU (8:40.47)

#3 Lexy Lowry, BYU (9:18.05)

#9 Taylor Lovell, BYU (9:46.86)

#10 Shelby Jensen, USU (9:48.44)

100 hurdles

#20 Quincy Bonds, UVU (13.07)

4×400 relay

#12 Hazlett-Taylor-Heimuli-Jackson, BYU (3:03.05)

Pole vault

#2 Logan Hammer, USU (18-8 ¼ )

High jump

#16 Aija Hughes, SUU (6-0)

Shot put

#13 Danny Bryant, BYU (65-1.25)

#17 Gretchen Hoekstre, BYU (57-3.5)

Discus

#25 Gretchen Hoekstre, BYU (184-6)

Javelin

 #8 Kelsi Oldroyd, UVU (186-11)

 #13 Jea Genet, BYU (179-2)

Decathlon

#4 Jaden Roskelley, BYU (8,000)

#9 Ben Barton, BYU (7865)