PROVO — As the outdoor track season rounds its midpoint and begins to head down the stretch, the name of the game for BYU athletes is qualifying for NCAA Regional competition.
Thirteen athletes from the BYU women's team have already provisionally qualified for NCAA Regional Tournaments, while others have come within inches or seconds of also qualifying, with five meets left to prove themselves.
"It's still early in the season," women's head track coach Craig Poole said. "I think that's a pretty good number at this point in the season, and there's plenty of time left."
Not only is the NCAA Regional a stepping stone to the ultimate goal — competing at the National Championships and seeking the sport's biggest prize — but BYU athletes have been afforded an additional rare opportunity this season, with the NCAA West Regional Championships being held in Provo.
Combine that with the fact that the Mountain West Conference Championships will also be held here, as well as two more regular meets (in addition to the Cougar Invite held two weeks ago), and that means the team has a huge home advantage in some of the year's biggest meets.
"It's really important in the fact that it gives us kind of a homecourt advantage, you could say," Poole said. "The athletes won't have to travel, they'll be a little more rested as we head in and they'll have a slightly better performance."
Poole said he is still evaluating his team's talent, and while the verdict isn't in yet, there is a lot of potential to be fulfilled, he said.
"We have a good team, I don't know if it's a great team or not yet, that remains to be seen," he said. "We're showing some great promise in our distance program, that's what we've always done."
Cross country star Chelsea Smith McKell has parlayed her distance prowess into a successful track season this spring, turning in a time of 16:35.31 in the 5,000 meter last week at UCLA to qualify for NCAA Regionals.
Fellow distance runner Michelle Lindsay has qualified in the 1,500-meter race, while a group of other distance runners — Anne Heiner in the 3,000 meters and Jocelyn Gardner and Lisa Frischknecht in the 10,000 meters — have made strong showings and come close to regional qualification times.
However, Poole is also high on the developing talents he has seen in other areas this year, particularly amongst the jumpers, throwers and heptathletes.
The pole vault in particular has been a strong event for the team so far, as three Cougar athletes — Mandy Lonsway, Kelly Nesbit Furr and Makenzie Hobbs Iorg — have qualified for regional competition.
Jumpers Kamila Rywelska (triple jump) and Mindy Neeley (long jump) have also performed well and qualified for regional competition already.
As the season winds down and the remaining athletes push for qualifying performances, and those who have qualified try to stay sharp, Poole said the challenge is managing a controlled effort so the women don't push too hard.
"There's always work that needs to be done in every single event at all time — making sure you have the right intensity with the right workloads — and I think we're doing a good job of balancing that at this point in the season," he said.
Poole said he is looking forward to watching the team develop down the stretch, and invited fans to come to one of the four remaining home meets to join in.
"It's just a really exciting team," Poole said. "It's exciting to watch them develop here down the last three or four weeks of the season. We've got some good home meets coming up here, and it would be good to have people come out and see them."
The Cougars will host the Y Invitational on Saturday at BYU, then head on the road to various meets next weekend before returning home to host the Robison Invitational on April 26-29.
The MWC Championships will be May 10-13 at BYU, then the NCAA Regional Meet will be May 26-27.
Utah County connections
The following BYU women's track and field athletes prepped at Utah Valley high schools:
BYU women
Name, Year, High School, Discipline, Notable
Julie Andersen, soph., Provo, mid-distance, placed ninth in the pentathlon at the 2005 MWC Indoor Championships
Amber Harper Andrews, soph., Orem, distance, ninth in 3,000-meter steeplechase at 2004 NCAA West Regionals
Tipaleli Fotu, soph., Pl. Grove, throws, placed fourth in the discus (142-6) at the 2006 Cal Poly Invitational
Whitney Gebert, fr., Sp. Fork, distance, team MVP in cross country her senior prep season
Jenna Taylor Jensen, soph., Provo, distance, second in the 5,000 (17.11.20) at the 2006 UCLA Invitational
Michelle Lindsay, soph., Orem, mid-distance, fourth in the 800 (2:11.09) at the 2005 MWC Outdoor Championships
Heidi Magill, soph., Mtn. View, distance, 2005 All-American in the 1,500 meters (4:15.57)
Julie Cameron Meads, soph., Timpview, distance, 2004 All-American as member of BYU's distance medley relay
Emily Page, fr., Timpview, sprints, placed ninth in 100 (12.68) at the 2006 Cougar Invitational
Ann Marie Thomas, soph., Mtn. View, distance, won the 1,500 at both the 2005 Stanford and BYU invitationals
E-mail: jtwitchell@desnews.com