PROVO, Utah— Despite weather conditions and tough competition, the BYU track and field had strong performances and solid marks at the 2016 Clarence Robison Invitational.

“We were a little nervous about the weather going into the meet, but we were able to get our races in,” BYU track and field head coach Ed Eyestone said. “The fact of the matter is when we go to championship style races the conditions are poor as well, so I think we learned the importance of whatever the conditions we need to man or woman up against the conditions. When you do that you usually end of competing and hitting pretty good marks in spite of the conditions. I was inspired that none of our athletes looked at the conditions and let that be an excuse.”

Erin Merkley and Jackson Walker started out the meet strongly winning the their individual multi events. Merkley battled her way through the heptathlon events after suffering from a stomach virus. She ended with a score of 5068. Walker placed in the top three in each decathlon event to take first place with a score of 7403.

Ashleigh Warner and Chase Horrocks were the top competitors in the women’s and men’s one-mile race. Warner placed first with a time of 4:56.76. Eyestone said she ran a tactical race and pushed at the end to secure the first place time. Horrocks competed against some strong competitors who race under four minutes, but he was able to pull forward at the end to place second overall with a time of 4:07.04.

Other top male competitors include Connor Ross (800 meters), Tatenda Tsumba (200 meters), and Zachary Blackham (high jump). Ross placed first in the men’s 800 meter with a commanding performance and a time of 1:51.64. Tsumba won the men’s 200-meter race with a time of 20.95 which places him in the top 30 on the west coast. Blackham jumped a new personal best in the high jump with a mark of 7’3”.

On the women’s side, Alyssa Monteverde-Dalton (100 meter hurdles), Andrea Stapleton (high jump), and Chloe Richardson (long jump) all had strong performances in their respective events. Monteverde-Dalton placed first in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 13.49. Stapleton jumped a first place mark of 1.77 meters. Richardson marked two personal bests in the triple jump (12.23 meters) and the long jump (5.85 meters).

To view a full list of results, go to byucougars.com.

Next week the team splits up again and heads to Philadelphia, PA for the Penn Relays and Boise, Idaho for the Utah-Idaho Borderclash. 

PROVO, Utah— BYU track and field will host their first and only outdoor home meet of the season at the 2016 BYU Clarence Robinson Invitational this weekend starting Thursday, April 21, to Saturday, April 23.

“Our athletes have shown in the past that they are capable of running, jumping and throwing some of the best marks of the year at the home meet,” BYU track and field head coach Ed Eyestone said. “One of the big events at this particular meet is the mile because of the altitude adjustment. Some strong athletes are coming down to compete and we haven’t been beaten on our track in the mile in a long time. Some of my top mile runners will be doing other events so it means our younger guys are going to have to step up and defend our home. It should be fun all the way around.”

Teams from the following schools will be competing in the meet: Utah State, Weber State, University of Utah, Westminster, SUU and Idaho State.

This meet is important to those athletes who are on the cusp of reaching their regional qualifying mark. With only a few weeks left in the regular season, those athletes will need to improve their times in order to make it to the first round of the NCAA meet. The athletes who have already achieved their regional qualifying marks will be looking to sharpen their marks to hold their spot. Currently there are 14 women and 20 men with regional qualifying marks.

Athletes to watch on the women’s side include Anginae Monteverde who will be vaulting and Alyssa Monteverde-Dalton who will be running the 100m hurdles. The sisters are capable of qualifying for the NCAA’s in the past and at this point they are just looking to solidify their marks and build confidence going into the last half of the season.

Shea Martinez-Collinsworth, one of the All-Americans, will be one of the athletes that drop down to a different event and will run the open 400m. This will be a nice opportunity to work on the speed side of things in preparation for the 800m at the NCAA meet. Kaylee Packham will be running the 400m hurdles to work on her technique, since she previously got a mark that will take her to the regional meet.  

On the men’s side, Zachary Blackham will compete in the high jump and Shaquille Walker will be running the open 400m. Last year Walker ran a 46.00 and will be trying to run under 46 seconds to rival Jesse White. The team is also going to put together their ‘A’ team in the 4x400 in order to have a mark that will get them to the national meet.

Students get in for free with ROC passes and general admission tickets are $5. The full schedule and live results will also be available on byucougars.com.