As expected, BYU’s Olympic steeplechaser, James Corrigan, advanced to the NCAA track and field championships during Friday’s NCAA West prelims in College Station, Texas.
Corrigan, who produced a time of 8:13.87 to qualify for last summer’s Olympic Games, ran just hard enough Friday to win his heat.
His time of 8:31.79 in the first of three heats was the fifth-fastest time overall. The top 12 in each event qualify for the national championships, which will be held in two weeks in Eugene, Oregon.
Corrigan’s teammate, Luke Grundvig, also advanced in the 5,000-meter run, finishing 11th with a time of 13:34.63.
Two days earlier, teammates Joey Nokes and Creed Thompson finished 10th and 11th in the 10,000-meter run to qualify for nationals. They also competed in Friday’s 5,000-meter semifinals, finishing 16th and 20th, respectively.
BYU’s 4 x 400-meter relay team of Eli Hazlett, Josh Taylor, Jonah Heimuli and Trey Jackson qualified for nationals by placing eighth overall with a time of 3:03.65.
BYU’s freshman find, Tyler Mathews, finished 17th in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:48.13. Earlier this season he clocked a time of 1:46.19, second-fastest in school history.
Danny Bryant threw the discus a personal-record 189 feet, 1 inch, but placed 15th, two feet shy of a top 12 finish. Lucas Bons and Carter Cutting, meanwhile, failed to advance out of the quarterfinals in the 1,500-meter run.
One of the biggest surprises of the meet among Utah entries was the performance of Utah Valley’s 4 x 100 relay team of Gavin Stafford, Cameron Franklin, Kade Thompson and Gabe Remy. They finished second in their heat and eighth overall with a school-record time of 39.13.
UVU coach Paul Smith, a former BYU sprinter, has quietly built a strong sprint squad, qualifying sprinters for the NCAA prelims in the 100-, 200- and 400-meter dashes and the 4x100. His sprinters set school records in all four events this season.
BYU, which had posted a time of 39.78 this season, was disqualified in the 4 x 100.
While the men competed Friday, the women will take the stage on Saturday to conclude the four-day competition, and BYU has several outstanding entries.
Meghan Hunter, a senior from Provo, ran a school-record time of 1:58.99 in the Big 12 Conference championships two weeks ago, making her the third-fastest collegian ever.
Lexie Lowry, a senior from Meridian, Idaho, is the fifth-fastest collegian ever in both the 3,000-meter steeplechase and the 5,000-meter run. She will contest only the steeplechase in Saturday’s meet because there isn’t enough recovery time between events.
Sami Oblad, a senior from Stansbury Park, set a school record of 50.49 in the 400-meter dash earlier this season. She has the third-fastest time heading into Saturday’s NCAA quarterfinals.