The BYU men's and women's track teams performed well in their second indoor meet of the season at the Boise State Invitational. The Cougars came away with 12 first-place finishes and several other impressive performances with the hope of improving for the NCAA Championships in two months.
'We were a little disappointed about the indoor track, it was not as fast a track as I remember,' BYU men's track coach Mark Robison said of the Jackson Indoor Track that will soon host the NCAA Championships.
However, the track did not limit some Cougars such as Ryan Waite who broke the stadium record in the 800-meter run with a time of 1 minute, 49.8 seconds. The Cougars placed top three in the men's 800m, with Justin Hedin and Ryan Jones as second- and third-place finishers.
Members from both the men's and women's team set marks and times ranking them as leading competitors in the nation. Victor Weirich, the top finisher in pole vault by clearing 5.50 meters, hit a mark that qualified him for nationals.
'I set a goal of clearing 5.50m today and it was very fulfilling to be able to meet the goal today,' Weirich said. 'It's great that I no longer have to worry about qualifying for nationals. Now I can just concentrate on improving the little things.'
Similarly, Christen Guenther cleared 4.15 meters in the pole vault, placing her third in the nation and tied for third best jump in BYU indoor history.
Overall, with no injuries and several nationally-ranked performances, the Cougars will now prepare for their next meet in Alburquerque, N.M., next weekend.
With the NCAA on the horizon, Boise provided a good foundation to improve upon for many athletes.
Runner Ryan Waite blogged about his performance in the Boise State Meet, 'We learned some other valuable things at the meet that will hopefully give us an edge for NCAAs in two months.'