Because of unpredictable weather, the first outdoor meet for BYU’s track and field team ended faster than anticipated with a rainstorm that flooded the track and any hope of finishing Saturday’s events.
“We were disappointed because we were hoping to do the same things twice,” said men’s coach Mark Robison. “That didn’t happen, oh man it was a mess.”
With a two-day meet, the original plan was to utilize the two-day weekend to do several events twice in order to gain more experience for athletes who did not participate in the indoor season.
Unfortunately for some, the weather postponed the opportunity to compete for another week. The anticipation for the women’s 400-meter hurdles and discus throw will have to wait for next week’s competition in Los Angeles.
“It was an opening meet for us that was a little rough because of the weather,” women’s coach Patrick Shane said. “But we managed to do the best we could.”
However, not all was in vain. Despite the weather, many athletes stepped up during the times when the weather was bearable with some good performances to start the season off strong.
Allyson Anderson broke a personal record by almost three meters in the javelin with a throw of 49.82 meters. This throw placed her at the top of the leaderboard, a few meters above BYU fourth place finisher, Amber Huntington.
The men’s javelin throwers also threw well, many of them throwing far enough to qualify for regionals.
The solid performances were not only seen in the field events but three of the four decathletes also had lifetime best performances during the Thursday and Friday competition.
Not only were personal records and goals exceeded, many performed in events for more strength training and endurance.
Robison placed many sprinters in longer events for conditioning purposes to set a good, solid foundation for future performances.
“We had some of our guys run longer distances,” Robison said. “We moved them up to give them a little more strength and training.”
However, for many athletes this was simply the first time to get back into competition-mode.
For Rachel Fisher, San Diego was the first meet she competed in for a full year.
“Things were a little rocky at first, warmup was interesting,” Fisher said. “I was able to go through some big poles — the jumps were decent, but not where I usually am. I think I might need a little more time to get used to competing.”
Although the weather was an unanticipated setback, the team overall had some good marks to improve upon in next week’s competition at the USC Invitational.
“The nice thing about outdoor is the season is much, much longer,” Robison said. “We just need to get out and get in a meet.”