After Idaho State retired the first four Cougar batters, Macy Simmons recorded the first BYU hit of the day with a single up the middle. Alexis Gilio was sent to pinch run and promptly stole second, putting her in scoring position with one out. ISU’s Emma McMurray struck out the next two batters to escape the bottom of the second with the game scoreless.

Through three innings, Autumn Moffat-Korth had given up two hits and struck out three Bengals.

In the top of the fourth inning, the Bengals got their second base runner of the game on a BYU error. After Moffat-Korth’s fourth strikeout, a groundball to shortstop advanced the runner into scoring position and resulted in the second out of the inning. Morgan Hess hit a double into right field driving in the first run of the game, givin Idaho State a 1-0 lead.

The Cougars responded with back-to-back singles from Williams and Violet Zavodnik to put runners on the corners with no outs in the bottom of the fourth. After Zavodnik stole second, Alyssa Podhurcak hit a sacrifice fly to right center that scored Williams tying the game at one and moving Zavodnik to third. McMurray retired the next two Cougar hitters to escape the jam and move to the fifth inning deadlocked at one.

Chavez took a 1-0 offering deep to center field and over the fence for her first home run of the year, giving BYU a 2-1 lead with no outs in the bottom of the fifth. This marked the third home run given up by McMurray on the season.

After retiring Brooke Hill-Barrington and walking Taryn Lennon, McMurray’s day came to a close when she was replaced by Maria Ramirez who made her 11th appearance of the season.

Martha Epenesa welcomed Ramirez to the game by reaching on an error by the shortstop, which moved Lennon to third. Williams broke the game open by taking an 0-2 pitch deep to left field for her first home run of the season. The three-run blast by Williams gave the Cougars a 5-1 lead.

Up next, the Cougars will host Southern Utah University on Saturday for a double header at 1 and 3 p.m. MDT. Both games will be broadcast live on BYUtv.

LaMont wins early for UVU wrestling at NCAAs

DETROIT – Four-time NCAA qualifier Taylor LaMont led the way for the Utah Valley University wrestling team during Thursday’s opening session at the 2022 NCAA Wrestling Championships at Little Caesars Arena on Thursday afternoon by recording a 7-2 victory over the No. 12 seed Malik Heinselman of Ohio State.

The 2021 All-American for the Wolverines LaMont (125 pounds) looked strong in his opening match of the 2022 NCAA’s by racking up a trio of takedowns en route to defeating the higher seeded foe and fellow four-time NCAA qualifier to advance to Thursday evening’s second round. UVU’s other two competing grapplers–No. 17 Haiden Drury (133) and No. 24 Evan Bockman (197)–both dropped tightly contested first-round matches at their first trip to the NCAA Championships on Thursday to fall to the wrestlebacks.

LaMont now moves on to round number two to face a familiar foe in the No. 5 seed and 2022 Big 12 champion Killian Cardinale of West Virginia on Thursday evening. The two met up last month in Morgantown, and Cardinale managed to pull out a tightly contested 3-2 decision.

All three Wolverines will continue the 2022 NCAA Championships with session number two on Thursday evening at 5 p.m. MT/7 p.m. ET. The session will be televised live on ESPN, while individual mat coverage will continue on ESPN3 and the ESPN App. Day two of the NCAA Wrestling Championships will then get underway on Friday at 9 a.m. MT/11 a.m. ET.

Wayment, Taylor top Mountain Region awards

NEW ORLEANS — BYU track and field distance runner Courtney Wayment and associate director of track and field Diljeet Taylor were awarded 2022 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Mountain Region Women’s Track Athlete and Assistant Coach of the Year, respectively, the USTFCCCA announced on Thursday.

Named the Mountain Region Track Athlete of the Year for the second year in a row, Wayment won an individual national title in the 5000m at last week’s Indoor National Championships, holding off NC State’s Katelyn Tuohy and Alabama’s Mercy Chelangat for the first-place finish with a time of 15:30.17. The senior from Layton, Utah, ran in the front pack of four athletes for the majority of the race before pulling away in the final kilometer.

The All-American’s title was the 10th indoor individual title in BYU women’s track and field history. Wayment also doubled in the 3000m last weekend, finishing fifth to earn All-American honors in a second event at the 2022 National Championships. Earlier in the season, at the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener in Boston, she set the school record in the 5000m, clocking a 15:15.46.

Last awarded the Mountain Region Assistant Coach of the Year in 2017, Taylor led distance runners Wayment and Claire Seymour, as well as a distance medley relay team, to qualifying times for this season’s Indoor Nationals.

Wayment took home an individual title in the 5000m, also finishing fifth in the 3000m, while Seymour was the runner-up in the 800m. Under the direction of Taylor, the pair of All-Americans both contributed points towards the Cougars’ overall 8th-place team finish on the women’s side.

McWhorter earns Athlete of the Year award

NEW ORLEANS – BYU track and field’s Zach McWhorter was awarded 2022 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Mountain Region Men’s Field Athlete of the Year, the USTFCCCA announced on Thursday.

McWhorter finished national runner-up for the second straight season at Friday’s indoor pole vault national championships. The sophomore’s clearance of 5.70m/18-8.25 was also good for First Team All-American honors.

Nationals capped off a season of new heights for McWhorter. The Springdale, Arkansas native broke his own school record twice as he led all Division I men’s pole vaulters for much of the 2022 indoor campaign. McWhorter set the current BYU record of 5.85m/19-2.25 at the Columbia Challenge in New York City on Feb. 4. This ranked McWhorter No. 5 all-time in Division I, among former collegiate greats such as KC Lightfoot of Baylor and LSU’s Mondo Duplantis.