BYU with top-10 finish, individual title at NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships

BYU Track and Field concluded its indoor season Saturday in another historic meet at the NCAA Indoor National Championships in Birmingham, Alabama, bringing home a top-10 overall finish, an individual national title and multiple All-American honors.

Star senior Courtney Wayment propelled the women’s team to eighth overall and finished her collegiate career by claiming her second indoor national title, winning the 5000m with a personal best time of 15:30.17. 

Wayment also made history by becoming the first BYU athlete to win national titles in two different events, adding to her 3000m title from the 2021 indoor nationals. She is also the 10th indoor individual champion in BYU women’s track and field history. 

The newly-named national champ told ESPN she wanted her last one to be her best, and it certainly worked out that way. Wayment also competed in the 3000m, finishing fifth overall with a time of 9:01.77.

On the men’s side of the competition, pole vaulter Zach McWhorter cleared a height of 5.70m/18-8.25 to finish as national runner-up for the second straight year and earn another First Team All-American selection. The sophomore fell just short of Princeton’s Sondre Guttormsen who claimed the title.

Following behind McWhorter was teammate Caleb Witsken, who finished 10th with a mark of 5.45m/17-10.5 as a Second Team All-American.

Continuing with the success was Halley Folsom-Walker, who took 5th overall in the pentathlon and earned First Team All-American honors. The senior pentathlete finished with a personal best of 4,201, surpassing her previous best by nearly 100 points. She also notched personal bests in the 60m hurdles and the 800m along the way.

There was reason for concern for Folsom-Walker as she entered the fifth and final event of the pentathlon in 14th place, but she ran an 800m time of 2:08.77 to take first in the event and jump to a top-5 finish.

Claire Seymour made her mark by finishing first in the 800m semifinal with a time of 2:03.48. She advanced to the finals, where she placed second overall with a time of 2:01.96 to surpass her previous time by over 1.5 seconds.

As for the distance medley relay, Carmen Alder, Lauren Ellsworth-Barnes, Kate Hunter and Meghan Hunter finished ninth with a time of 11:06.64, earning the quartet Second Team All-American honors.

Cierra Tidwell-Allphin cleared 1.78m/5-10 in the high jump on her way to an eighth-place finish and a First Team All-American selection.

As BYU Track and Field returns back to Provo, it will look to the upcoming outdoor season that begins next week at the Trojan Invitational March 18-19.