PROVO, Utah – Seniors led the way for the Cougars on the second day of the BYU Indoor Invitational on Friday, Jan. 12.

Senior Blake Steeves took first overall in the long jump with a distance of 7.16m after fouling his first four attempts. Junior Tomi Adegoke finished close behind Steeves with a jump of 7.07m.

Three Cougars took the top three spots in the women’s shot put. Senior Kassie Nagel took first overall with a throw of 14.53m. Sophomore Sierra Freeland took second with a throw of 13.81m and freshman Lethia Tuimaseve took third with a throw of 12.49m.

Senior Nicole Laws Lord finished first in the women’s pentathlon with a score of 3028 after finishing first in both the 60m hurdles and long jump.

Seniors Sierra Hansen and Kylee Trageser placed first and second place respectively in the pole vault. Hansen vaulted a meet-high 4.05m to win the event.

Former BYU standout and current professional Swedish thrower, Leif Arrhenius, won the men’s shot put with the distance of 18.97m. Senior Dennis Christensen placed third with a throw of 17.03m.

Senior Kevin Nielsen and sophomore Brian Matthews started competing in the men’s heptathlon for the Cougars on Thursday, Jan. 11, however physical discomfort kept them from continuing to compete in the remaining events.

The schedule of the events on the final day can be found here. Follow BYU track and field on twitter @BYUTFXC to keep up on the action, or click here for more live stats.

PROVO, Utah – BYU track and field will host the BYU Indoor Collegiate Invitational at the Smith Fieldhouse this weekend. Events will begin Thursday, Jan. 11, and finish on Saturday, Jan. 13.

This will be the first meet of 2018 and the second meet of the indoor track and field season for the Cougars. BYU coach Ed Eyestone is eager for another opportunity to see the various event groups in action after the winter break.

“It’s going to be a nice opportunity for athletes to get back into action and start making progress towards making it to the NCAA Indoor Championships,” Eyestone said. “We’re very excited because this meet is another opportunity to establish a baseline. It will go a long way in establishing who is going to be traveling for the rest of the season so there is plenty of motivation for everyone.”

Eyestone looks forward to seeing junior Brian Matthews and senior Kevin Nielsen compete in the men’s heptathlon after strong performances during the 2017 indoor season. Matthews had a personal best score of 4922 in the heptathlon at the 2017 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Indoor Championships. Nielsen competed in the 2017 NCAA Indoor Championships after setting a BYU record score of 5728 in the heptathlon at the MPSF Indoor Championships.

Sophomore Lindsay Yetter Shirley is another athlete that Eyestone expects to continue to flourish. Shirley started off the 2018 season with a career-best score of 3533 in the pentathlon at the BYU December Invitational.

At that same meet, senior Marcus Dickson had his personal best in the mile with a time of 4:09.06. Coach Eyestone anticipates that Dickson will run the mile under 4:05 by the end of the season.

Eyestone said that they’re looking forward to another opportunity to see junior Dennis Christensen in the shot put. Christensen recently broke his personal record with a 17.87m mark and a first-place finish at the 2017 Weber State Winter Open in December.

Senior Laura Young Bluth and sophomore Whittni Orton are two women’s distance runners to watch in their 2018 debut. Bluth and Orton both competed in the 2017 MPSF Indoor Championships and will compete this weekend in the 3000m and 800m respectively.

For a full schedule of events at the BYU Indoor Invite click here. Follow BYU track and field on twitter @BYUTFXC to keep up on the action, or click here for more live stats.