BYU couldn’t hold onto the runner’s high brought by Ben Barton’s national title winning performance Thursday in Friday’s slate of events at the NCAA outdoor track and field championships.
The highly anticipated 1,500-meter event, featuring BYU’s Carter Cutting, the No. 4 seed, didn’t pan out as Cutting would have liked.
Cutting gave a strong performance on Wednesday night where he finished second in his heat and earned a new personal-best. Cutting went into tonight’s race with a chip on his shoulder but it wasn’t enough.
Despite starting as the No. 4 seed, Cutting finished in eighth place and ran three seconds slower than his preliminary time.
Tayvon Kitchen, also of BYU, didn’t meet expectations in the 5,000-meter race either. Starting out at the No. 5 position, Kitchen fell to 14th.
However, Kitchen’s teammate Isaac Hedengren surged from 11 spots, finishing eighth overall in the 5,000 meters with a final time of 13:48.84.
The women’s heptathlon event kicked off Friday and BYU’s Zoey Bonds made her way into 12th place by the end of the first day.
Bonds started off strong with a fifth place finish in the 100 meter hurdles and continued her success into the high jump, placing fourth.
As the day waned, however, Bonds struggled in the shot put and 200 meters, finishing 21st and 17th respectively. But, Bonds’ strong history in both the long jump and javelin throw give her a chance to move her way up.
While the Cougars didn’t take home any national titles on Friday, the hopes live on as standout freshman Jane Hedengren competes in the 5,000 meters on Saturday, the final day of the competition.