SACRAMENTO, Calif. — BYU junior Robison Pratt claimed the NCAA National Championship in the pole vault to highlight the action on Friday at the 2005 NCAA Track & Field National Championships.
Pratt's championship marked the first individual national title for the BYU men since Leonard Myles-Mills captured the 100-meter championship in 1999.
The Cougars also picked up four more All-America citations, including Rena Chesser in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, Josh McAdams in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, Trent Powell in the pole vault and Pratt in the pole vault.
Below is an event-by-event recap of Friday's action at the 2005 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
In other events:
HEPTATHLON: After earning All-America honors with a fourth-place finish in the high jump Thursday, BYU sophomore Amy Menlove began the first day of competition in the heptathlon with a third-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles. Menlove won the second of three heats in a time of 13.54 to pick up 1,044 points. Menlove finished third overall behind Eastern Michigan's Lela Nelson (13.49) and Texas-San Antonio's Ryanne Dupree (13.51).
In the high jump, Menlove cleared a career-best 5'06.50" to pick up 842 points and finish tied for tenth in the event. After two events, Menlove was in sixth place in the heptathlon with 1,886 points.
In the shot put, Menlove was credited with a career-best mark of 35'06.50" to finish 24th in the event. Menlove, who has only been throwing the shot put for just over a year, picked up 584 points and held 11th place after three events with 2,470 points.
Menlove turned in a 24.81 in the second heat of the 200 meters to finish second behind Nelson of Eastern Michigan. Nelson finished in a time of 23.78.
She picked up 904 points in the 200 meters and finished day one of the heptathlon in 10th place with 3,374 points. The heptathlon will conclude on Saturday with competition in the long jump, javelin and 800 meters.
MEN'S TRIPLE JUMP (Qualifying): If it weren't for a little thing called an "illegal wind," Cougar Rodrigo Mendes' first (and only) attempt in the qualifying round of the men's triple jump would have been the third longest mark in the world this year. It would have also blown past the BYU record by nearly two feet.
Jumping with a tail wind of 3.4 meters per second, Mendes' jump did not qualify for record purposes. With his mark of 57'06.50", however, Mendes automatically qualified for the finals with the top overall jump in Thursday's competition.
"What a sweet, sweet jump," BYU men's coach Mark Robison said. "If it would have been a legal wind, it would have been the third longest jump this year. We know one thing, he didn't have to wear himself out today.
Hopefully he'll come back tomorrow and not change a thing."
Mendes' distance in the triple jump was just one-half inch shy of two feet longer than the next closest competitor.
MEN'S POLE VAULT: After missing his first attempt at the opening height (16'10.50"), Pratt did not miss again until he had the competition locked up. Pratt won his first outdoor National Championship after clearing 18'00.50".
"It felt good to win," Robison said. "I started out kind of sluggish, missing my first attempt at a lower height. I got nervous, but it made me more focused for the next attempt. I managed to pull out a close second attempt and it got better throughout the competition."
Robison is the first BYU male athlete to win an individual outdoor title at the NCAA Championships since Leonard Myles-Mills won the 100 meters in 1999.
Teammate Trent Powell cleared 17'04.50" to earn All-America honors with a seventh-place finish in the event.
WOMEN'S TRIPLE JUMP (Qualifying): BYU junior Kamila Rywelska qualified for Saturday's final after finishing second in the preliminary round on Friday. Rywelsak recorded a personal-best in the triple jump with a distance of 44'08.25".
MEN'S 3,000-METER STEEPLECHASE: Sitting in sixth place heading down the home stretch, and poised to set a new lifetime-best in the event, BYU junior Josh McAdams hit the final barrier and tumbled to the track. McAdams recovered and managed a ninth-place finish in the event with a time of 8:36.88. McAdams earned All-America honors for his performance.
"I feel so badly for Josh," Robison said. "He was running such a great race, then hit that last barrier — the last barrier. He had a nice season and should be proud of his performance."
WOMEN'S 3,000-METER STEEPLECHASE: BYU junior Rena Williams became the second BYU woman to earn All-America honors at the NCAA Championships, finishing a strong third in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Williams finished the race in 10:02.21, beating her personal-best by nearly six seconds.
Junior Lisa Pratt finished 14th in a time of 10:38.05.
10,000-METER RUN: BYU's Josh Rohatinsky earned All-America honors with a seventh-place finish in the 10,000 meters. Rohatinsky, who earned indoor All-America honors in the 3,000 meters earlier this season, finished with a time of 28:54.70. Arizona's Robert Cheseret won the event with a time of 28:20.11. Utah's Delfino Avevalo was 19th in a time of 29:54.48.
HAMMER: Vanessa Mortensen, the only U. woman competing at the NCAA outdoor track and field championship, threw the hammer 54.12 meters Thursday to finish 25th in qualifying rounds. It took a throw of 59.33 meters to advance to the championship round.