BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Courtney Wayment led BYU women’s track and field on day one of the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships at the Birmingham CrossPlex on Friday, taking home an individual national title in the 5,000-meters.

Wayment’s performance was the highlight of the night for BYU, as she won the 5000m with a time of 15:30.17. The senior ran in the front pack of four athletes for the majority of the race before pulling away in the final kilometer, holding of NC States’ Katelyn Tuohy and Alabama’s Mercy Chelangat for the first-place finish.

Wayment’s title is the 10th indoor individual title in BYU women’s track and field history. She also becomes the second athlete in program history to earn a second indoor individual title and the first to do so in two different events. Wayment also won the 3,000-meters at the 2021 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships.

Halley Folsom Walker began the day for the Cougars in pentathlon competition. The senior clocked a personal best time of 8.69 in the opening event, the 60-meter hurdles, but found herself at 14th overall heading into the fifth and final event, the 800-meters.

Folsom Walker’s late push in the final turn nearly earned her first place over the overall pentathlon winner, Florida’s Anna Hall, as the two crossed the finish line a mere two milliseconds apart. The 2:08.77 in the 800m and 4,201 overall points were both personal bests for the pentathlete, who jumped from 14th to 5th overall, earning First Team All-American honors.

Claire Seymour left no doubt in the 800m semifinals, finishing first in her heat and overall with a time of 2:03.48. Seymour’s first-place finish earned an automatic qualification to the final, scheduled for Saturday at 7:30 p.m. CST.

In the distance medley relay, the squad of Carmen Alder, Meghan Hunter, Lauren Ellsworth-Barnes and Kate Hunter placed ninth with a time of 11:06.64, good for Second Team All-American honors.

The BYU women finished eighth overall at the 2022 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships behind a runner-up finish by Claire Seymour in the 800-meter at the Birmingham CrossPlex on Saturday.

Seymour took her No. 1 qualifying time into the 800m final, finishing second just behind Virginia Tech’s Lindsey Butler (2:01.37) with a personal-best time of 2:01.96.

“She prepared herself well,” BYU director of track and field Ed Eyestone said of Seymour. “She didn’t care what she was ranked coming in, she knew it was all about her performance on the day of the meet. She showed great poise, confidence and determination. She ran a controlled effort that put her in good position. What an amazing evening for Claire Seymour!”

The time further solidified Seymour’s No. 2 mark in program history, inching closer to Shea Collinsworth’s school record time of 2:01.42, and also earned the junior first-team All-America status.

Cierra Tidwell Allphin represented BYU in the high jump. The sophomore tied for eighth with a mark of 1.78m/5-10, to also earn All-America First Team honors.

Coming off her win in the 5000m, Wayment finished fifth in the 3000m on Saturday after clocking a 9:01.77 to also be named a first-team All-American in that event.

“She had the determination last night to hold them off and win,” Eyestone said. “Tonight, she probably could’ve run a safer race, but put herself in a position where she wanted to win it. She was in a great position, but just ran out of gas late due to the fatigue from last night’s 5000m race. That 5000 and 3000 combination is almost impossible. I’m very proud of her.”

As a team, the Cougars totaled 26.2 points to earn an eighth-place finish overall, just ahead of ninth-place NC State with 25 points and behind Virginia Tech and Ole Miss at 29 points, who tied for sixth.

Newsletter