Whittni Orton, BYU’s sensational distance runner, smashed her second school record in two weeks Saturday night.
Running in a crowded field of 27 professional runners in the Sound Invitational in Irvine, California, Orton finished 10th in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 15:12.91, more than 25 seconds under the school record set by Erica Jarvis in 2019. It is the fastest collegiate time in the nation this year and the seventh fastest collegiate time ever.
A half-hour later, teammate Courtney Wayment competed in the second heat of the 5,000, and finished fourth in a field of two dozen professionals, clocking the second fastest time in school history and second fastest collegiate time this year — 15:17.58. It is also the ninth fastest time in collegiate history.
Another BYU star, Conner Mantz, the reigning NCAA cross-country champion, finished fourth against a field of 30 professional runners in Friday night’s 10,000-meter run, clocking the second fastest time in school history, 27:41.16 — that’s just .11 of a second shy of the school record set by his coach, Ed Eyestone, in 1985. Eyestone’s time was a collegiate record at the time. Mantz’s time also ranks as the fastest collegiate time in the country this season.
Another BYU athlete, Alena Ellsworth, won one of the four heats of the 800-meter run, clocking a time of 2:03.81. Freshman Meghan Hunter was fourth with a time of 2:04.27. BYU freshman Lucas Bons was fourth in a heat of the 1,500-meter run with a time of 3:38.69.
Orton and Wayment are both in the midst of sensational seasons. Two weeks ago, Orton won the 1,500-meter run at the West Coast Relays with a time of 4:09.31, which broke the school record by 2 1/2 seconds. In the same meet, Wayment won the steeplechase with a nation-leading time of 9:31.37, which broke the school record by more than 11 seconds.
Orton, a senior from Panguitch, didn’t begin formal training until March because of a series of injuries. Two weeks later she finished 17th in the NCAA cross-country championships and then began her record-breaking outdoor season. Orton now owns two outdoor school records and four indoor school records (in the mile, 3,000, 5,000 and distance medley relay). During the 2020 indoor season she had some of the fastest times in the nation but wasn’t able to compete in the national championships, which were canceled by the pandemic.
Wayment, a junior from Kaysville, posted the fastest indoor times in the nation last winter in the mile and 3,000-meter. At the NCAA Indoor Championships she won the 3,000 and anchored BYU’s inning distance medley relay.