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BYU's Meghan Hunter, left, and Tessa Buswell have qualified for the NCAA Meet with qualifying times at the West Prelims in College Station, Texas, on Saturday, May 31, 2025.

Courtesy BYU Athletics

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BYU's Luke Grundvig competes in the 5000 meters at the NCAA West Preliminary in College Station, Texas, on Friday, May 30, 2025.

Courtesy BYU Athletics

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COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Consistency is the key.

BYU women’s track and field qualified nine athletes at the West Prelims on Saturday to compete in 10 events at the 2025 NCAA outdoor championships in two weeks. That’s the same number of competitors the Cougars sent in 2024 and the seventh time the program has qualified in double-digits for the finals.

BYU senior Meghan Hunter set a new E.B. Cushing facility record and BYU school record in the 800m on Saturday with a time of 1:58.95, earning her second career qualification to the NCAA Outdoor Championships. The senior from Provo, Utah, and two-time First Team All-American is just the third collegian in history to run under 1:59–and has now done it twice this month, first to win the Big 12 title on May 17 and again in the quarterfinals.

True freshman Tessa Buswell also earned a spot in Eugene in the 800m, placing eighth overall with the second-fastest time of her career at 2:02.54. She advances as the second time qualifier and will be BYU’s only freshman woman to compete at nationals.

Carlee Hansen punched her ticket to the NCAA outdoor championships in the 1500m with a fifth-place finish in both her heat and overall. The senior from Bountiful, Utah, broke the all-time BYU school record of 4:08.53–previously held by 2021 NCAA champion Anna Camp-Bennett–by nearly a full second, clocking 4:07.64. The performance secured her spot in Eugene and marks her first career appearance at the outdoor national meet.

Riley Chamberlain will join Hansen in the 1500m in Eugene after a personal-best 4:08.24 that featured a blistering 59-second final lap. The junior from Loomis, California, took second in the first heat and placed seventh overall. Chamberlain briefly claimed the school record from Camp-Bennett, only to see Hansen reclaim it five minutes later in the next heat, bumping her to No. 2 on the all-time list.

Lexy Halladay-Lowry dominated the 3000m steeplechase, winning in 9:23.03–more than 17 seconds ahead of the next closest competitor. The senior from Meridian, Idaho, broke the E.B. Cushing Stadium facility record and secured her third career trip to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the event. She’ll head to Eugene looking to improve on her fourth-place national finish from 2023.

Taylor Lovell also punched her ticket to nationals in the 3000m steeplechase with a four-second personal best of 9:42.83, finishing third in her heat and fourth overall. The time moves her to No. 4 on BYU’s all-time steeplechase list. A 2023 NCAA finalist as a freshman, Lovell earned Second Team All-America honors with a ninth-place finish.

Jenna Hutchins earned her spot at Hayward Field in the 5000m with a third-place finish in both her heat and overall. She crossed the line in 15:49.95, closing with a 68-second final lap. The junior from Johnson City, Tennessee, returns to Eugene after earning First Team All-America honors in 2024 with a sixth-place finish in the 10,000m.

“It was an incredible day for our women’s distance team,” said Associate Director of Track & Field Diljeet Taylor. “They all braved the heat and humidity and executed race plans. I am very proud of the way they represent our program and how they inspire each other,”

Sprinter Sami Oblad placed second in her heat and fifth overall in the 400m with a time of 51.29 to advance to the NCAA semifinal round at Hayward Field. The senior from Stansbury Park, Utah, is the first BYU athlete to qualify for the outdoor championships in the 400m since Natalie Stewart in 2013. Earlier this year, Oblad finished 11th in the 400m at the 2025 NCAA indoor championships.

“I am so proud of Sami and her performance tonight,” said sprints and hurdles coach Kyle Grossarth. “She executed her race plan well and did what she needed to do to qualify for the next round. We are excited for what is next.”

Gretchen Hoekstre booked her second straight trip to nationals in the discus with a third-attempt throw of 54.58m/179-1 to place tenth. The senior from Seaside, Oregon, will also compete in the shot put in Eugene after qualifying on Thursday with a mark of 16.87m/55-4.25, also on her third and final attempt to place eighth.

BYU’s 10 entries into the 2025 NCAA outdoor championships mark the program’s highest total since also sending 10 in 2004, and the seventh time in program history it has qualified double-digit entries.

Grundvig leads the way for men’s track

BYU’s Luke Grundvig heads to the NCAA Championships for the first time as the junior secured the final time qualifier in the 5,000-meters on Friday evening at E.B. Cushing Stadium in College Station, Texas.

“That was a huge race for Luke. He has been one of our great cross country runners but for him to run a personal best on a hot, humid night was just a wonderful effort,” Director of Track & Field Ed Eyestone said. “Last week, we were doing some finishing work and he finished really well in the workouts. I just said ‘Luke, you got a shot at this’. What I loved about him tonight is that he put himself in it. He ran hard. He had to gear down and make up a lot of real estate in the last 400-meters. He made up two seconds to get that seventh spot then we just had to nervously watch the next heat and make sure the sixth-place didn’t push him out.”

Grundvig was one of six runners from Heat 1 to run the final lap in under 60 seconds as the Highland native ran the final quarter mile in 58.41 to cross the finish line in a personal best time of 13:34.63. The junior entered the meet with the 39th fastest time in the West region before finishing seventh in the first heat and 11th overall, edging Washington State’s Evan Kurui by .26 seconds for the third and final time qualifier.

“We had some good things happen and in a meet like this sometimes you have some disappointments,” Eyestone added. “I think we got some people through that we knew had a really good chance of scoring at the NCAA meet. James Corrigan looked good winning his heat in the steeplechase. That’s one of the high points. It’s always exciting when you cap things with the 4×400-meter relay and see our team advance to nationals.”

James Corrigan remained undefeated in the 3,000-meter steeplechase this season as the junior ran under the previous facility record to win the first heat in a time of 8:31.79. The two-time Big 12 Champion took the lead with two laps remaining and never looked back running his final 400-meters in 63.68 to secure a second consecutive trip to Eugene. Landon Heemeyer finished 16th as the freshman concludes his season running 8:44.07.

The men’s 4×400-meter relay finished third in its heat and eighth overall running 3:03.65 to secure a spot at nationals for a third consecutive year. Eli Hazlett led the race off before passing the baton to Josh Taylor followed by Jonah Heimuli with Trey Jackson running the anchor leg.

Two days after qualifying for nationals in the 10,000-meters, Joey Nokes and Creed Thompson doubled back to finish 16th and 20th in the 5,000m. Nokes finished ninth in the first heat running 13:42.31 with Thompson in 11th in 13:47.44.

Carter Cutting narrowly missed out on his first trip to the national meet as the sophomore finished sixth in heat two, 3:47.40, .09 behind Bradley’s Jack Crull for the fifth and final automatic qualifying spot. Lucas Bons ran 3:43.27 to finish 11th in the first heat.

Danny Bryant, who qualified for nationals in shot put on Wednesday, finished 15th in the discus with the best performance of his career. The senior from Valencia, Calif. threw 57.64m/189-1 on his second attempt of the competition.

Tyler Mathews concluded his freshman campaign finish seventh in his heat and 17th overall in the 800-meters running 1:48.13.

Logan Hubler and Brayden Dahl finished 21st and 22nd in the 400-meter hurdles running 51.52 and 51.58 respectively in the second heat.