Brown finishes fourth in 800 meters to lead BYU in final day at MPSF Championships

SEATTLE, Wash. – In only her second 800-meter race this season, Kelsey Brown finished fourth in the 800 final to lead the women’s track and field team to a ninth-place finish at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships Saturday at Dempsey Indoor Track.

Brown’s performance scored five points for BYU. She finished with a time of 2 minutes 7.11 seconds.

“Considering the training Kelsey (Brown) has done the last few weeks, she ran really well,” BYU head coach Patrick Shane said. “She did what we expected her to do. As a team, ninth is not what we were hoping for, but when you look at the quality of athletes we lost last year, this was realistic for us. Many teams in this conference simply have more firepower, but as the years progress, we will eventually be a contender for the title.”

During Brown’s first race in the 800 at the Washington Invitational, she finished first with a time of 2:04.94. She is currently ranked seventh in the NCAA and among the top-800 runners in the nation to qualify for nationals.

Rachel Stewart also competed in the 800 finishing 14th overall with a time of 2:13.69.

In the triple jump, Elizabeth Wilson finished fifth with a mark of 11.88m (38-11.75). She scored four additional points with the performance and 12 points overall after two days of competition. Kensey Berry finished ninth overall with a mark of 11.45m (37-06.75).

Ashleigh Warner competed in the mile finishing first in her heat and 13th overall with a time of 4:55.14.

In the 3,000-meter run, Candace Eddy Carlisle finished ninth overall with a time of 9:33.07. She was followed by Erica Birk  (9:34.61) and Laura Young (9:38.32) who finished 10th and 15th, respectively. Carlisle and Young both set new career-bests for the 3,000.

Natalie Stewart and Nicole Rudd Bringhurst competed in the 400-meter dash finishing 13th and 16th with times of 56.02 and 56.20, respectively.

Final results from the MPSF Championships can be found at GoHuskies.com/livestats.

To read about highlights from Day 1 of the Championships, click here.

Next week, several Cougars will travel back to Washington for the Washington Final Qualifier for one last shot at qualifying for nationals.

The NCAA Indoor Championships will take place March 8-9 in Fayetteville, Ark., at Randal Tyson Track Center.