Martinez moves on to 800 meter finals

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Freshman Shea Martinez finished second overall in the 800 meter preliminary to move one step closer to next week’s NCAA Championships on day one of the 2014 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships - West Preliminary on Thursday.

“Shea [Martinez] looked awesome in the 800 meter to qualify for the finals tomorrow,” Eyestone said. “Mark [Carlson] and Korey [Smith] looked great and we hope they do well in the 400-meter hurdle finals.”

Martinez set a personal record of 2:05.98 to move on to tomorrow’s 800-meter finals and a chance to move onto the NCAA Championships. Carlson also set a personal record in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 50.99 to finish 8th in the preliminary round, while teammate Smith finished 19th with a time of 51.453.

“It was nice to have two more people qualify,” BYU head coach Ed Eyestone said. “Jason did a great job coming through and picking up the slack in the 10,000-meter race. Kyle rose up to finish in the top 12 for us in the javelin.”

Witt finished 12th with a time of 29:41.30. Senior Jared Ward was not able to finish the race after suffering a stress fracture.

Baker came in seeded No. 27, but posted a season best 65.45 meters to finish 11th and punch his ticket to Eugene, Oregon.

Competition continues tomorrow with live results and a schedule of events posted on NCAA.com.