By Shannon Beck
The BYU men”s track and field team won the Mountain West Conference Indoor Championships held Jan. 22 through Jan. 24 at the Air Force Academy Cadet Field House in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
The Cougars won the conference with a 214-point team score, beating second placed Colorado State University”s team by more than 81 points.
Senior All-American Kenneth Andam won first place in both the 60-meter and the 200-meter sprints on Feb. 24 leading the way for the cougars.
“Winning two gold”s and representing BYU was the best,” Andam said.
Andam broke the conference championship record and the meet record in both the 60-meter and the 200-meter runs.
The men”s team also won the top three spots in both the 400-meter and the 800-meter races on Feb. 24.
Sophomore Greg Flint won the quarter-mile race with teammates Kish Beverly and Matt Nielsen following tightly behind.
In first place for the half mile run was Sophomore Jeffery Hopkinson, who took first in the half-mile race beating teammates Drew Ostler and Jason Dorais as they all crossed the finish line nearly tying for the win.
Hopkinson and Ostler beat last year”s conference championship meet record with less than a second to go adding more points to BYU”s overall score.
“I”m very pleased; we scored incredibly well. It”s my first conference championships with our new team, so it was great, I couldn”t be happier,” coach Mark Robison said.
Senior All-American Jim Roberts won the shot put with 64 feet 3 1/4 inch throw and sophomore Jeremy Kemp beat the men”s pole vault competition continuing the cougars lead in the conference championships.
“The kids did everything we asked them to. They came out and performed well and we”re very happy with the win,” Robison said.
Sophomore Curtis Pugsley, a pentathlon athlete for BYU”s team, won an award at the MWC Indoor Championships for the highest points totaled by one individual, he said.
He also won, the outstanding male freshman award for his performance in last year”s competition.
On Friday Senior Chris Kemp took second in the pentathlon and second in the distance medley relay, Robison said.
“I ran a pretty fast split, my 400 was quick, Kemp said.
“He was unbelievable in the relay, he ran so fast we had to use the fire extinguisher on his feet,” Robison said.
