STANFORD, Calif. – Thirteen of BYU’s top distance runners competed in the Payton Jordan Invitational Thursday night with a majority of the athletes gaining or solidifying regional qualifying times.

"We accomplished exactly what we set out to do," BYU head coach Ed Eyestone said. "We're doing well and on a good roll. We're a few weeks away from the regional meet so we'll take this momentum and get ready for it."

Connor McMillan clocked a personal-best 28:09.55 in the 10,000m to give himself one of the top-5 times in the nation as well as the No. 4 time in BYU history. Rory Linkletter also ran a career-best in the 10,000m with a time of 28:43.51 to earn the No. 7 all-time mark at BYU and one of the top times in the nation.

Kate Hunter and Ashleigh Warner posted career-bests in the 1500m with times of 4:20.63 and 4:21.02, respectively. In her season debut, Whittni Orton ran a 4:21.21 in the 1500m and all three athletes will likely have top-48 times in the region to qualify for the NCAA West Prelims.

The shakeup in BYU’s top-10 board continued with Clayton Young moving up to No. 7 all-time in the 5000m with a time of 13:37.60. Young joins Linkletter, McMillan and Daniel Carney to give the Cougars four of the top-20 5000m times in the nation.

BYU’s steeplechasers gave FloTrack commentators good reason to call the Cougars “Steeple U” during the Payton Jordan Invitational. Carney (8:41.22) and Clayson Shumway (8:41.69) clocked personal-bests in the 3000m steeplechase to give BYU four of the top-10 steeplechasers in the nation. Teammate Maddie Cannon ran a career-best 10:07.52 in the women’s 3000m steeplechase to improve her regional qualifying position.

"We take pride in the fact our guys invest a lot of time and effort in technique and getting their hurdling down," Eyestone said. "When you couple good technique with hard work and great endurance capability then you can rise to have a special year."

BYU track and field also had a group of throwers compete at the Weber State Twilight Meet on Thursday. After recording a career-mark at the Robison Invitational last week, Jacob Foutz threw for a personal-best of 60.50m (198’ 6”) in the hammer to improve his position to qualify for regionals.

The Cougars compete again this week on Saturday, May 5, at the Sacramento State Open. Follow BYU track and field on Twitter @BYUTFXC for live updates from both track meets. Live stats will be available on the BYU track and field team’s schedule page on the day of the meet.

For the official results of the Payton Jordan Invitational, click here.

For the official results of the Weber State Twilight Meet, click here.

PROVO, Utah – The USTFCCCA ranked the BYU men’s track and field team No. 7 in the nation while the women’s team jumped to No. 35 as the Cougars prepare to compete at the Payton Jordan Invitational and the Sacramento State Open this week.

“The Payton Jordan Invitational is a distance-oriented meet and it will be exciting to see our top distance athletes doing their thing there,” BYU head coach Ed Eyestone said. “The majority of the team will then be competing Saturday in Sacramento where we’ll be looking to continue to build on the home meet we just had that gave us a bunch of new regional qualifiers.”

BYU will only be sending some of its top distance runners to compete at Stanford’s Payton Jordan Invitational on Thursday, May 3, while the rest of the team will compete at the Sacramento State Open on Saturday, May 5.

Eyestone noted his excitement for several distance runners that will compete in particular events for the first time this season. Rory Linkletter and Connor McMillan will both run their first 10,000m race of the season on Thursday. Linkletter was named a First Team All-American after taking second place in the 10,000m at the 2017 NCAA Track and Field Championships.

Clayton Young will open in the men’s 5000m for the first time this season. Young received second-team All-American honors in the 5000m last year after finishing 10th at the 2017 NCAA Championships. He holds BYU’s No. 10 all-time mark in the 5000m with a time of 13:50.00.

Whittni Orton will have her season debut in the 1500m after missing a majority of the season dealing with an injury. Orton took 20th in the 1500m at the 2017 NCAA Championships to earn honorable mention All-America honors and currently ranks No. 10 all-time at BYU in the 1500m (4:17.50).

“It’s only three weeks until the NCAA West Prelims so the distance athletes will go all out this week and then rest up for regionals,” Eyestone said. “The sprint group will go hard this week and have another shot next week at home with the Last Chance Meet.”

The Payton Jordan Invitational will be streamed online on FloTrack.org. Follow BYU track and field on Twitter @BYUTFXC for live updates from both track meets. Live stats for both meets will be available on the BYU track and field team’s schedule page on the day of the event.

The official USTFCCCA track and field rankings can be found here.