“The overriding theme this year was ‘closing the gap’,” BYU director of track and field Ed Eyestone said. “For the women’s team to go from sitting in third place to finishing second overall in the conference is a dramatic representation of the hard work our athletes and coaches have done this season. I’m grateful to the coaching staff who help put us in position to finish as the runner-up to a strong Texas team. We’ll end as the No. 1-ranked returning team for next year and that is awesome. This weekend has been a testament to the hard work of everyone.”

Rebekah Erikson kicked off the action early in the afternoon for the Cougars as she set a new school record in the pole vault clearing 4.31m/14-1.75 to place third overall in the competition and earn 6 points for BYU. Teammate Maren Garnett also earned a spot on the podium in the women’s pole vault clearing a personal-best 4.11m/13-5.75.

Gretchen Hoekstre also broke a school record throwing 56.30m/184-8 in the discus to place second in the competition and earn eight points for the Cougars.

Annalise Hart ran a personal best of 57.07 in the 400-meter hurdles to place fifth as she moved up to No. 2 all-time at BYU in the event. Hart also anchored the 4x400m relay team of Sami Oblad, Emily Ellis-Dalley and Lainey Jones to a second place finish and a time of 3:34.43.

The women’s 5000m earned 13 points for the team as Jenna Hutchins placed third in 16:17.88, Jacey Farmer in fourth in 16:18.44 and Anastayisa Davis in seventh in 16:48.80.

The 1500m duo of Sadie Sargent and Riley Chamberlain scored 11 points. Sargent placed second clocking a personal best of 4:09.65: BYU’s No. 3 all-time mark in the event. Chamberlain crossed the line just two seconds behind her with a personal-best time of 4:11.68, improving on her BYU No. 6 all-time mark.

The 4x100m relay team of Cate Phipps Louis, Gardner, Dolita Shaw and Jones placed seventh overall with a time of 44.38.

High jumper Cierra Tidwell Allphin placed second in the competition as she cleared 1.83m/6-0 and garnered eight points for the women.

Sprinter Jaslyn Gardner placed sixth in the 100m and eighth in the 200m clocking 11.35 and 23.83, respectively. She also teamed up with Cate Phipps Louis, Dolita Shaw and Lainey Jones to place seventh in the 4x100m with a time of 44.38.

Krystie Solomon cut over two seconds off of her previous personal best in the 800m as she ran 2:04.68 to place eighth in the field.

On the men’s side, the Cougars finished with 83 points as part of a solid team effort.

“For the men to take that step up to finish fourth overall in the conference is something to be excited about,” Eyestone said. “It will help with our focus as we go into the regional and nationals meets. I thought the athletes showed great determination and flexibility with the adverse conditions we had. We had multiple lightning delays that caused some of our athletes to race at midnight. They put on amazing performances regardless, so overall we are really excited about all the good things that happened over the last three days.”

A big part of that success was thanks to James Corrigan, who took the overall victory in the 3000-meter steeplechase in 8:29.24 on Friday night.

Corrigan became the first Big 12 Individual Men’s Champion for the BYU track and field team and fourth individual conference champion for any BYU team. The sophomore from Los Angeles, California moved to match Kyle Perry’s performance of the same time in 2009 for the No. 3 program all-time spot. Corrigan also bested the conference record in the event which was previously 8:32.59. He as well ran under the USATF Olympic Qualifying Standard for the event, 8:30.00.

The race had a delayed start time of 11:30 p.m. CT because of a lightning delay. Corrigan and the Cougars toed the line four and a half hours later. Keeping in the the lead pack a majority of the race, Corrigan bested an Oklahoma State runner over the last barrier to take the victory.

“I felt great with the race tonight,” said Corrigan. “I’m proud of the team’s effort. The race itself went well. It was a strategic move to go out really quick. I think we all handled it well and settled in. Our focus became ‘Score, Score, Score’.”

The Cougars third day of competition saw Dallin Shurts take second in the men’s discus with a throw of 60.59m/201-10. Shurts contributed eight points for the Cougars.

Sebastian Fernandez took second overall in the 800-meters later in the afternoon, clocking 1:46.32 across the line. Fernandez moved to No. 2 in the BYU all-time program records. The junior for Andover, Minnesota has had back-to-back personal bests performances, coming off his recent facility record performance of 1:46.77 at the Robison Invite just two weeks prior.

“Sebastian is running really well right now,” said assistant distance coach Ryan Waite. “His training has gone as well as we could hope and now he has learned how to better mentally prepare and execute on race day. This was another great step for him towards even bigger things in his season and career.”

Riley Hunt improved upon his No. 5 all-time performance in the 110m hurdles time, crossing the finish in 13.91. Hunt secured eight place and a podium spot for BYU.

Up next, the Cougars will prepare for the NCAA West Preliminary Round May 22-25 in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

BYU baseball loses to Cincinnati on Senior Day

BYU baseball dropped the final game of its Big 12 series with Cincinnati Bearcats 12-5 at Miller Park in Provo on Saturday afternoon.

Five seniors were honored as part of the senior day festivities before the game: left-handed pitcher Boston Mabeus, left-handed pitcher Mason Olson, infielder Crew Robinson, right-handed pitcher Bryce Robison and infielder Brock Watkins.

Crew McChesney reached base in all five plate appearances with two doubles, two runs scored, an RBI and a walk. Senior lefthander Boston Mabeus entered the game in the eighth inning and faced three batters, retiring all three with back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning.

The Cougars will be back in action at Miller Park on Tuesday for a matchup with Grand Canyon with first pitch slated for 6 p.m. MDT.