Both BYU’s men’s and women’s track and field teams won their first home meet of the outdoor season against University of Southern California and Boise State this weekend. What was supposed to be a close meet didn’t turn out so close after all.
BYU’s overall team score was 317 points, 127 points more than the second place team, Boise State, at190 points, with USC third at 159 points.
“There is no place like home,” men’s head coach Mark Robison said.
The Cougars performed extremely well, racking up eleven first-place finishes for the men and six first-place finishes for the women.
USC left several of its top athletes at home and therefore the meet was not as competitive as BYU anticipated.
“They didn’t bring as many people as they were supposed to,” Robison said, “but we still had incredible performances.”
BYU purposely left much of its strength, especially in the power events, home to compete for a good mark.
‘“It was a good strong meet,” women’s head coach Patrick Shane said. “Our goal as a team was to win the meet, and we did that.”
The Stanford Invitational, hosting a handful of BYU’s distance runners, also reaped good performances.
Shane reported proudly that almost the entire women’s team attending the Stanford meet ran a personal best in their individual events. Several people even qualified for the region meet.
The NCAA takes the top 50 in each event to compete in the region meet. Qualifying for regionals was the main goal for those attending the Stanford meet.
The highlight, on the women’s side, was Nachelle Mackie’s performance in the 800 meters. Recently titled as the indoor national champion, Mackie ran her best ever indoor and outdoor 800 time at 2 minutes, 03.02 seconds, beating a competitive group of athletes in the process.
“She has a great chance at going at our school record currently held by an Olympian,” Shane said. “She has a good chance to take that record down.”
The Cougars hope to continue this pattern of good performances in their next meet in Los Angeles in preparation for more competitive meets on the horizon, the NCAA West Regionals and the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
“We plan on running faster later in the year,” Shane said.
