Cougars give strong showing at Air Force Team Challenge

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – BYU’s men’s and women’s track and field teams had a strong showing with several personal bests and sweeps at the Air Force Team Challenge on Friday.

"I am very pleased with our men's and women's results today," head coach Ed Eyestone said. "This is one of the few scored meets of the year and the women's and men's teams competed well. The women won in dominant fashion and the men finished a very close third despite leaving some of our best distance group at home."

The women’s track and field team had three sweeps leading to a dominant 146-point team victory topping Wichita State, Colorado State and Air Force. The men’s track and field team had a sweep of their own and finished third with a score of 112.

Freshman Sara Musselman won the women’s mile with a personal best time of 5:09.45. Teammates junior Maddie Cannon (5:11.59) and junior Emma Gee (5:12.32) finished second and third, respectively, to give BYU its first sweep of the day.

The Cougars got their second sweep in the women’s 400m with the help of three athletes’ record times. Junior Cassidy Pinnock won the event with her personal-best time of 56:07. Junior Brenna Porter finished second with a personal-record time of 56.31 and Sophomore Lauren Rawlinson took third with a career-best time of 56.72.

The third sweep came in the women’s 800m when BYU took the top four spots in the event with career-best times – all within one second. Senior Sidney Unga took first place with her career-best time of 2:14.98 with teammates freshman Claire Seymour (2:15.21), senior Avery Walker (2:15.40) and freshman Karina Haymore (2:15.84) finishing at her heels with their own personal record times.

The men’s team swept the 200m for BYU’s fourth sweep of the meet. Sophomore Derek Sorensen took first with a time of 21.77 and teammates freshman Abram Schaap (21.83), sophomore Clark Brown (21.84) and sophomore Jesus Serrano (22.44) finished close behind.

Senior Max Scheible took first in the men’s 400m with a time of 48.55, junior David Graham took second in the men’s 800m with a time of 1:52.90, and freshman Patrick Parker took second in the men’s mile with a time of 4:18.13.

Sophomore Rickey Fantroy Jr. and Brown had career times in the 60m finals. Fantroy took second with a time of 6.82 and Brown took third with a time of 6.83.

Junior Keesha Miller took second in the women’s 60m with a time of 7.54 while teammate sophomore Haley Rogers got her career best in the 60m with a time of 7.66. Rogers went on to beat a second personal record in a first-place finish in the women’s 200m with a time of 24.74.

The Cougars had three strong showings in the men’s field events. Junior Dennis Christensen took first in the shot put with a distance of 17.27m, senior Jake Jarvis placed second with a career best 5.10m pole vault and junior Jacob Foutz took second in the weight throw with a distance of 18.27m.

BYU finished the meet with the men's and women's 4x400m. The men's relay team won their relay by two-tenths of a second with a time of 3:17.75 while the women's relay team took first with a six-second cushion and a time of 3:48.67.

"This meet will help us make some decisions as we travel to New York City next week for a big meet in the Armory, one of the best indoor facilities in the country,"  Eyestone said.

For full results, click here.

The Cougars next head to New York to compete in the Dr. Sanders Invitational at the Armory track on Friday, Jan. 26.