PROVO, Utah – Despite strong winds and a few snowflakes, the BYU Robison Invitational was highlighted by top finishes and regional-qualifying marks for the Cougars as they competed at Clarence Robison Track in Provo, Utah, on Friday and Saturday.

"This meet serves a couple purposes, and one is to give athletes an opportunity to compete having slept in their own bed the night before,” BYU head coach Ed Eyestone said. “Usually we get good performances when that happens. The weather was kind of dicey the last few days, but fortunately it cleared up today. Even though we had to battle the wind a bit, I thought our athletes showed great fortitude and determination the way they did. We had some great performances.”

BYU hosted Southern Utah, Idaho State, Utah Valley, Utah State, Weber State, Westminster College and the University of Utah at the invite which began on Friday afternoon and finished up on Saturday evening.

On the day of his college graduation, Zachary Stetler won the Invitational in the shot put with a mark of 18.32m. Teammate Jacob Foutz took second overall in the men’s hammer with a 56.56m throw. For the women, discus thrower Sadie Nielsen took first overall with a mark of 49.38m while Payge Cuthbertson placed first in the javelin with a 46.00m mark.

Jameson Shirley, Raul Rios and Jake Jarvis went two-three-four in the pole vault with marks of 5.32m, 4.97m and 4.97m, respectively, and Kylee Trageser took first place in the pole vault with a 4.00m to represent the women. Shirley also recorded a new personal best and regional qualifier with his mark. 

Women’s jumpers ShyAndrea Jackson, Chloe Hadley and Kiyana Dixon took the top three slots in the triple jump with marks of 12.48, 12.16 and 12.00, respectively. Tomi Adegoke took first in the long jump with a mark of 7.29m while Rickey Fantroy took third in the triple jump with a 14.38 mark. Jackson's mark was also a qualifying time for the regional meet. 

And in the women’s high jump, Andrea Stapleton, Ellyana Long and Margaret Appiah went one-two-three, logging marks of 1.76m, 1.71m and 1.66m, respectively.

In the multi-events, senior Jackson Walker won the decathlon with a total of 7361 points, taking first place in the discus, pole vault and javelin portions of the event. Halley Folsom won the heptathlon with 4802 total points and took first place in the javelin portion.

Clark Brown ran a personal best in the 100-meter finals with a time of 10.35 and finished in second overall behind Tatenda Tsumba who took first place in the 100 meters with a 10.29. Keesha Miller, in the women's 100 meters, set a new personal best and took second overall with a time of 11.77. 

In the 400 meter hurdles, Scott Mecham and Max Scheible took places second and third with Mecham finishing in 51.52 and Scheible in 52.01. Similarly, Kaitlyn Gunnerson took third in the women’s 100-meter hurdles and set a new personal record with a time of 14.21.

In the women's 800 meters, Madeline Brooks, Heidi Fuhriman and McKenna Neyman went one-two-three with times of 2:10.63, 2:12.68 and 2:13.89, respectively. 

Anna Camp won the women’s mile with a time of 4:52.08 while the Cougars claimed five of the top six finishing spots in the men's mile. Rory Linkletter took second place with a 4:05.60 time, Jacob Heslington third with a time of 4:06.91, Clayton Young finished fourth in 4:06.91, Talem Franco fifth in 4:07.25 and Kramer Morton was in sixth with a 4:08.04. Having run qualifying times, Franco and Morton are expected to compete in the 1500 meters at regionals. 

The women's 4x400-meter relay squad came up with a huge come-from-behind victory as anchor Brenna Porter powered past a Utah State Aggie in the last 50 meters to take the win with a time of 3:51.48. The men's 4x100-meter relay placed first overall with a time of 39.79 using the combined efforts of Clark Brown, Tatenda Tsumba, Drew Tingey and Derek Sorensen. Shortly thereafter, Tingey won the 400m with a time of 47.67.

“This meet has set us up will for the upcoming competitions as we finish the season," Eyestone concluded. “We continue to punch the tickets to Austin, and, all in all, it was a great couple of days. It should be onward and upward from here.”

Next, BYU will travel to Los Angeles where they will compete in the Occidental Invitational on Saturday, May 6. 

PROVO, Utah – The Clarence Robison Invitational, the first home outdoor meet of the season for the BYU track and field, will run from Thursday, April 27, at noon and run through the evening of Saturday, April 29.

“This is such a good meet because it is one of the only home meets we have during the outdoor season,” BYU head coach Ed Eyestone said. “It’s always nice to have a couple of home meets for the athletes to compete on a track they are comfortable with and they don’t have to struggle with the fatigue of traveling. We are looking to some good performances.”

Other schools competing in the meet include Idaho State, Southern Utah, Utah, Utah State, Utah Valley, Weber State and Westminister College.

The Robison Invitational is one of the three final meets of the season for athletes to qualify for the NCAA West Preliminary. Eyestone said there isn’t as much pressure at this meet, but they are still looking for everyone to improve on their marks.

In order to qualify for the NCAA West Preliminary meet, individual athletes must have a time in the top-48 in the west and relay teams must hold a time on the top-24. The heptathlon and decathlon are not contested at the preliminary meets. Qualification to the NCAA Championships in the decathlon and heptathlon is accomplished by a student-athlete achieving a score ranked in the top 24 nationally in their respective event.

Eyestone said there are several athletes who have secured qualifying marks and there are still a few that could qualify if their marks hold nationally.

One of the top sprinters to keep an eye on during the Robison Invitational includes senior Tatenda Tsumba, who has qualifying times at No. 7 time in the men’s 100m dash and No. 15 time in the 200m dash.

Among the men competing in the mid-distance events, Clayton Young (No. 2), Rory Linkletter (No. 11) and Jonathon Harper (No.15) are all currently ranked in the top-15 in the men’s 10,000m run.

Shea Collinsworth holds the No. 3 spot in the women’s 800m run and the No. 10 spot in the 1500m run. Whittni Orton and Erica Birk are also ranked in qualifying spots in the 1500m run at No. 18 and 25, respectively.

For the women’s distance runners, Laura Young, Alice Jensen and Yesenia Silva all hold top-48 times in the 10,000m run at No. 19, No. 28 and No. 30.

Men's and women’s steeplechase athletes are also showing strong performances with top-48 times. The men's steeplechasers include Clayson Shumway (No. 9), Daniel Carney (No. 10), Jacob Heslington (No. 16), Mitchell Briggs (No. 17), Porter Raddish (No. 37) and Jeff Bastian (No. 48).

The women’s steeplechasers include Kristi Rush, Erica Birk and Courtney Wayment who are ranked at No. 2, 3 and 4 in the west.

For a full list of qualified athletes and their times, visit tfrrs.com.

The official Facebook page of the BYU track and field and cross country team will be broadcasting the meet through Facebook live videos. To follow live stats through RunnerCard, click here.