SEATTLE – BYU track and field continued its success on the final day of the MPSF Indoor Track and Field Championships with the men’s team taking second overall and many athletes breaking personal records.

“One of our goals going in was to have our athletes improve their indoor season marks,” BYU head coach Ed Eyestone said. “I think we ended up doing well in that aspect and finished the meet with roughly 40 season bests.”

BYU’s men’s team took second place out of 15 teams with a total team score of 75.5. The women’s team finished seventh out of 19 teams with a total score of 37 points.

The Cougars started off strong at the MPSF Championships on Friday with three athletes winning their individual events. On the men’s team, Connor McMillan won the 5000m with a career-best 13:46.71 and Derek Sorensen finished first in the 200m with a new personal-best 21.53. Sierra Hansen tied for first in the pole vault with a height of 4.20m to earn a new career record.

BYU continued to run well on the second and final day of the MPSF Championships with two more Cougars winning their individual events. Abraham Alvarado ran a 4:02.70 in the mile to finish first and earn himself a new personal record. Rory Linkletter won the men’s 3000m with a career-record 7:54.29.

Linkletter and McMillan finished with times just outside the top-16 in the NCAA for their respective races. Both will likely miss out on competing in those events at the NCAA Indoor Championships unless athletes ahead of them decide not to compete. However, Linkletter is still in position to qualify for the NCAA Championships in the 5000m.

Linkletter wasn’t the only BYU athlete to do well in the men’s 3000m. The MPSF 3000m Champion had teammate Daniel Carney finish behind him in sixth with a new career-record of 7:57.55. Connor Mantz finished 10th (8:02.75) and Jacob Heslington recorded his personal-best time (8:06.51) to finish in 15th.

Marcus Dickson and Patrick Parker recorded career-bests with Alvarado in the mile. Dickson ran a 4:07.18 for the 10th-best time and Parker finished just after with a time of 4:08.03 for 12th place.

Kevin Nielsen had a season-best performance for BYU in the men's heptathlon taking second with a total of 5491 points. Nielsen ended up with the best marks out of the heptathletes in the 60m (7.19), long jump(7.01m), shot put (12.44m) and 60m hurdles (8.35).

BYU had three athletes finish in the top-10 in the women’s 3000m. Olivia Hoj took sixth and earned a new career-best time of 9:20.23. Courtney Wayment-Smith and Kristi Rush-Briggs finished in seventh (9:22.49) and eighth (9:23.67), respectively.

Whittni Orton ran a 2:08.71 in the 800m to finish seventh overall and teammate Claire Seymour came in right behind her for eighth and clocked a personal-best time of 2:09.00. Brenna Porter competed in the 400m and ran a new career time of 54.89 to finish 10th overall.

Andrea Stapleton-Johnson cleared 1.79m in the high jump to finish in third overall for the Cougars. She and three other athletes all finished with 1.79m as the highest mark cleared, but Stapleton-Johnson finished in third after having a larger number of total jump attempts than two of the four.

The Cougars will now wait to confirm those who have qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships along with preparing for the start of the outdoor track and field season. The NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships start Friday, March 9, at Gilliam Indoor Stadium in College Station Texas.

Click here for the full results from the MPSF Indoor Track and Field Championships

Click here for a recap of day one at the MPSF Indoor Track and Field Championships

PROVO, Utah – BYU track and field will compete at the MPSF Indoor Track and Field Championships on Friday, Feb. 23 in Seattle, Washington at the Dempsey Indoor Track Arena.

“The MPSF meet is designed and designated as a meet that helps athletes tune up for the national meet,” BYU head coach Ed Eyestone said. “The championship aspect of it is de-emphasized and the schools instead focus on trying to get their people as ready as possible for the national meet.”

The Cougars will send 27 men and 27 women to participate in the meet. This will be the last meet of the season for many of them. The athletes that have qualified or are in position to qualify for nationals will focus on preparing for nationals or improving their marks to better secure their spot.

Rory Linkletter and Daniel Carney have both qualified for the 5,000m and will run the 3,000m as speed work to prepare them for the national meet. They are also looking to qualify in the 3,000m.

Andrea Stapleton is currently 15th in the high jump and hopes to improve her mark in order to secure her spot in the national meet.

The women’s DMR team qualified for nationals this past weekend and will all run individual races in order to sharpen their skills and prepare for nationals.

Kevin Nielsen qualified last year in the heptathlon and will be working to qualify again this weekend.

Abraham Alvarado has qualified in the 800m and will run a mile for strength work.

Clayton Young qualified for nationals last year and looks to qualify in the 3,000m. He was injured earlier in the season and hopes this meet will provide his ticket to nationals.

Whittni Orton has qualified in the mile and will use this meet to prepare for the national meet.

Live results for the meet can be found here and live video can be found here.