Garrett Marsing, a senior from Price, finished fourth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase Friday evening to highlight the final day of competition for the BYU men at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon.
Marsing finished with a personal-best time of 8:31.54. Kigen Chemadi of Middle Tennessee State won the race with a time of 8:28.20, the fastest collegiate time of the year.
BYU, ranked fifth in the final regular season poll, finished 17th in the team standings with 16 points.
The championships conclude Saturday with the final day of the women’s competition, and the Cougars have set the stage for a good showing. Courtney Wayment (steeplechase), Anna Camp (1,500-meter) and Claire Seymour (800-meter) had the first, second and third fastest times, respectively, in Wednesday’s semifinals, and Whittni Orton (5,000-meter) has the fastest time in the nation this season in her event.
Other than Marsing’s performance, the BYU men had a quiet day on Friday. Casey Clinger, a sophomore from American Fork, placed 16th in the 5,000-meter run. Oregon’s Cooper Teare won the race with a meet-record time of 13:12.27.
Michael Bluth, a senior from Riverton, finished eighth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 45.91. The race was won by Randolph Rose in a world-leading time of 43.85.
Talem Franco, a graduate student from Heber City, finished ninth in the 1,500 with a time of 3:40.61. The race was won by Oregon’s Cole Hocker with a time of 3:35.35, just .05 off the meet record set by Sydney Maree in 1981.
Dallin Shurts, a freshman, was 15th in the discus with a throw of 178-9 and teammate Dallin Vorkink was 17th in the decathlon with a score of 6,388 points.