AMES, Iowa – BYU track and field athletes set many personal bests during the first day of competition at the Iowa State Classic at the Lied Recreation Athletic Center on Friday.  

Rory Linkletter earned a new BYU record for the 5000m race by finishing fourth with a time of 13.41.01. Linkletter’s goal was to beat out Olympian and former BYU record holder Jared Ward’s time and he successfully did that. Daniel Carney finished close behind Linkletter in sixth place, earning a PR as well (13.41.32). Clayson Shumway also finished the race with a PR in 15th place (13:54.71).

Connor McMillan finished first in another 5000m race (13:48.00) and most likely earned his ticket to the NCAA championships.

Laura Young-Bluth earned a PR and new BYU record in the 5000m with her eighth place finish (15:53.41). Olivia Hoj also earned a PR in the same race and finished 15th (16:17.6).

Courtney Wayment finished sixth in the 3000m earning her the second all-time BYU finish (9:12.75). Kristi Rush also had a top-10 BYU record time with her ninth place finish (9:18.20) in the 3000m.

Matt Owens had a personal best and finished third in the 3000m race (8:09.61).

Colton Yardley had career bests in the 60m-hurdles and the 200m race. Yardley finished 13th in the 60m-hurdles at 8.26 and 15th in the 200m at 22.33.

Brady Early and Connor Weaver both earned personal bests in the 5k. Early finished 18th (14:25.93) and Weaver finished right behind him in 21st place (14:28.32).

Siale Teaupa achieved a career best in the weight throw. Teaupa finished sixth with a mark of 17.45.

PROVO, Utah – The BYU track and field team will compete at two different meets this weekend. Part of the team will head to Iowa to compete in the Iowa State Classic at the Lied Recreation Athletic Center this Friday and Saturday, Feb. 9-10 and another group will head to Idaho for the Bronco Challenge at the Jacksons Indoor Track on Saturday.

“We are dividing and conquering this weekend,” head coach Ed Eyestone said. “Hopefully we come away from this weekend with many of our athletes qualifying for the NCAA Championships.”

More than 55 athletes will travel to Iowa to compete in the Iowa State Classic. The meet has paced races, which means that the races will have non-collegiate runners who are paid to set fast paces. The goal is to push the collegiate athletes to run personal bests and ultimately qualify for the NCAA Championships.

Eyestone looks forward to watching his athletes compete in these races as he has many of them participating in the fastest races.

Among those athletes is Rory Linkletter, who qualified last year and finished second in the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 10,000m. He will be running the 5,000m and Eyestone expects him to qualify. Linkletter is also working to beat Olympian and professional runner Jared Ward’s BYU record for the race.

Daniel Carney is also running the 5,000m and Eyestone expects him to qualify. Clayson Shumway and Conner Mantz will compete in the second-fastest heat and they will have a chance to qualify as well. 

Eyestone hopes to see Whittni Orton earn a qualifying spot in the mile and Laura Young-Bluth earn a spot in the 5,000m.

The throwers and long sprinters will also head to Iowa. The goal of all of the athletes is to earn a qualifying spot.

"Hopefully by the end of the weekend we'll have a number of people with a guaranteed ticket to the indoor national championships," Eyestone said. 

A group of athletes will head to Idaho to compete at the Bronco Challenge. The Cougars will send multi-event athletes, jumpers and short sprinters to participate. 

Keesha Miller will compete in the 60m and is an athlete to watch. Andrea Stapleton hopes to improve her mark in the high jump as her current mark is right on the border for qualifying. She hopes to secure her spot in the championships with her performance this weekend. 

Live results for the Iowa State Classic can be found here.