PROVO — With finals and bad weather looming, collegiate athletes from around the state gathered at BYU on Saturday for the Y Invitational, where the clouds parted long enough for several athletes to turn in NCAA Regional-qualifying performances.
Team scores were not kept, but several athletes from BYU's men's and women's teams took control of the meet, led by a school-record performance by Mandy Kelly Lonsway, who cleared 13 feet 5 inches in the women's pole vault.
"This is our best meet so far in the season," BYU women's coach Craig Poole said. "Our people did some really good things, and I was very, very pleased. We had personal bests in lots of places — and while they may not result in the best mark, (athletes) did some things technically that we've been working on that are indicative of our future being very bright."
Kathryn Duhadway of Utah State also had a strong day on the pole vault with a regional-qualifying vault of 12-5.
On the men's side of the vault, BYU freshman Whitney Neves electrified the crowd with a new personal best of 17-6. Neves' and Lonsway's vaults put them each in the top 10 in the nation this year in their event.
The Cougars also had a strong day in the men's hurdles, where Chris Carter, Ben Gardner and Jacob Garlick swept the top three spots in the 400-meter competition, all with regional-qualifying times.
BYU men's coach Mark Robison had many of his top competitors sitting the meet out but said he was thrilled with the performance of the athletes asked to step in, many of whom are freshmen.
"This is just a crazy time of our season, with school ending Tuesday and finals and the temperature — it's just a crazy time of year," he said.
"Because of that, we had a lot of kids we just didn't run today, so it was a good meet for a lot of young people and I was really pleased."
David Pendergrass and Trevor Heiner finished first and second, respectively, for the Cougars in the men's high jump.
Michelle Lindsey (women's 800m), Ann Heiner (women's 3,000m steeplechase), Jacob Gustafsson and Miles Batty (men's 1,500m) rounded out the qualifying athletes for BYU.
Weber State athletes had a good day as well, as five Wildcats added their names to the regional eligibility list, led by a one-two performance by Brock Money and Chris Sonognini in the men's discus.
Sariah St. Laurent won the women's 3,000m steeplechase, while teammate Lindsey Olson Anderson took third, both qualifying for regionals by a comfortable margin. Wiley King, meanwhile, won the men's 110m hurdles for the Wildcats in 14.01 seconds to qualify.
Utah State received a strong performance from Kristen Guymon, who won the women's 1,500m run in 4:31.38 to qualify for regionals, while teammate Jennifer Twitchell finished less than a second behind Guymon to do likewise.
Justin Wickard, who finished second in the men's 110m hurdles, was the fourth and final Aggie athlete to qualify for regional competition.
E-mail: jtwitchell@desnews.com