Monteverde breaks school record, finishes sixth at nationals

EUGENE, Oregon – Anginae Monteverde crushed BYU’s all-time outdoor pole vault record and placed sixth overall at the 2015 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon, Thursday.

“Obviously, it was a really rewarding day for Anginae (Monteverde), as she started out at Oregon, then transferred to BYU and returned here earning first-team All-American honors,” BYU head coach Ed Eyestone said.

Monteverde cleared 4.30m (14’ 1.25’’) on her second attempt, and clinched first-team All-America honors, as only seven out of 24 athletes remained in the competition following that height.

"I went into the meet with the mindset to do the very best I can so I can leave happy no matter what," Monteverde said. "When I cleared the 4.30m bar, I was so happy. It has been something I've been striving for all season. To top it off, I was able to do it at nationals in front of friends and family."

Monteverde began her record-breaking day narrowly missing on her first two attempts of the opening height of 4.05m (13’ 3.5’’), but came through on her third and final attempt. The next height was 4.20m (13’ 9.25’’), and Monteverde cleared it easily on her second attempt to set up her school record-breaking performance. Coming in to the event, Monteverde's outdoor career best was 4.24m (13' 11''), and the previous school record was 4.25m (13’ 11.25’').

“She battled really well and showed some real focus on clearing that opening height on her final attempt, and then things went smoothly for her,” Eyestone said.

In the women’s 800 meters, Shea Martinez and Kelsey Brown-Gilbert both competed in heat two of three total heats. The pace on the first lap was slow, due to a strong wind down the backstretch. With the first lap being timed at 1:07.98, Martinez began pushing the pace immediately heading in to the final lap and opened up a lead of a few meters down the backstretch. Coming in to the final straightaway, Martinez held a slight lead, but couldn’t quite hold on in the final 100 meters finishing third in her heat with a time of 2:08.48. Overall, Martinez finished 17th and Brown-Gilbert finished 24th, both earning honorable mention All-America status.

Brown-Gilbert, Martinez and Monteverde were the three representatives for BYU women's track at the NCAA Championships. Results from Thursday's action can be found at NCAA.com. Action continues Friday for the men beginning at 4 p.m. PDT. A complete schedule of events can be found here. Steve Flint (3,000m steeplechase), Shaquille Walker (800m) and the 4x400m relay team will all be competing in the finals of their respective events for national championships.