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BYU's Danny Bryant finished 11th in the shot put at the West Prelims in College Station, Texas, on Wednesday, May 28, 2025, qualifying for the NCAA Meet.

Courtesy BYU Athletics

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BYU freshman Ilove'a Brittingham circles the bases after hitting a home run during the non-conference game against UVU at Wolverine Softball Field in Orem on Tuesday, March 25, 2025.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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COLLEGE STATION, Texas – BYU’s Danny Bryant, Creed Thompson and Joey Nokes punched their tickets to the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships on Wednesday evening at the NCAA West Preliminary Round.

Bryant was the first Cougar to secure his place in Eugene, Ore. as the senior finished 11th in the shot put, marking his second straight trip to the national championship. His best mark of the competition came on his first attempt with a throw of 18.91m/62-0.5.

Nokes and Thompson both ran under the previous 10,000-meter facility record to punch their tickets to TrackTown USA. Nokes qualified for the outdoor championships for the first time in his career running 28:21.02 to finish 10th. Fresh off his runner-up finish at the Big 12 Championships, Thompson finished right behind his teammate in 11th, 28:21.52.

With their performance, BYU will send multiple runners in the 10,000-meter to the national meet for the third time in the past five years.

Carter Cutting and Lucas Bons advanced to the 1,500-meter quarterfinals as they each finished in the top five of their respective heats. Cutting finished third in the first heat running 3:50.51 while Bons used a late surge to finish third in his heat running 3:44.95. Aidan Troutner finished ninth in his heat and 28th overall running 3:52.16.

Tyler Mathews used a strong final 200 meters to win his heat and secure a spot in the quarterfinal. After finding himself boxed in coming off the curve, Mathews bounced to the outside to pass the field and cross the finish line in 1:48.52. Sebastian Fernandez finished 39th running 1:50.64.

Logan Hubler ran 51.29 to finish third in the opening heat of the 400-meter hurdles to advance to the quarterfinals. Brayden Dahl will join Hubler on Friday as the sophomore picked up the final time qualifier after running 51.12 to secure a spot ahead of Stephen F. Austin’s Jarvis Anderson. Jace Jensen finished 37th running 51.87.

Sam Jennings was the top finisher for the Cougars in the javelin as the freshman finished 14th. The Pendleton, Ore. native moved up to eighth on BYU’s all-time list with his throw of 68.24m/223-11 on his second attempt of the competition.

Brinton Paulson had his best throw of the competition on his third and final attempt, 64.77m/212-6, to finish 26th. Carson Riner finished 29th with a mark of 63.11m/207-0 on his opening throw of the competition.

Trey Jackson ran 46.563 to edge teammate Eli Hazlett, 46.566, to finish 29th in the 400-meters. Josh Taylor also recorded a Top 40 finish running 46.93.

Austin Cox finished 23rd in the pole vault with a clearance of 5.17m/16-11.5 on his third attempt.

UConn game set, date solidified

BYU continues to piece together its non-conference schedule as the Cougars will face UConn in the Hall of Fame Series Boston on Saturday, Nov. 15 at TD Garden. Position Sports announced the matchup, in partnership with the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, Thursday morning.

“The Hall of Fame Series continues to deliver great non-conference matchups for men’s college basketball,” said Kevin Young, BYU head coach. “The game against UConn in Boston is going to be a great test for our team and allow Cougar fans all over the East Coast to see us play in one of the premiere venues in the NBA.”

It will be the second all-time meeting between the two programs and first since they met in the opening round of the 2003 NCAA Division I Tournament in Spokane, Wash. BYU’s Travis Hansen scored a game-high 21 points in a 58-53 setback to a Huskies squad that featured future lottery picks Ben Gordon and Emeka Okafor.

Details regarding ticketing, game time, broadcast details and media credentials for the event will be shared at a later date.

Brittingham earns All-American accolades

BYU softball’s Ilove’a Brittingham was named a Freshmen All-American by D1 Softball, the outlet announced on Thursday morning.

Brittingham continues to rake in the postseason awards. The Nipomo, California product has also been named an NFCA Third Team All-American, Softball America Freshman All-American, NFCA Freshman of the Year top 10 finalist, NFCA All-Mountain Region First Team honoree, the Big 12 Freshman of the Year, an All-Big 12 First Team honoree and Big 12 All-Freshman Team member.

The freshman outfielder led BYU with 20 multi-RBI games and 19 multi-hit contests, posting five or more RBI on four separate occasions, with five two-home run games on the year as well.

She paced the Cougars in 10 offensive categories this season, setting the BYU’s freshman RBI record (69) and tying the program’s single-season freshman home run (21) record.

Brittingham led the Big 12 in seven offensive categories: home runs (21), home runs per game (0.43), RBI (69), RBI per game (1.41), sacrifice flies (4), slugging percentage (.839) and total bases (135). She ranked in the top 20 nationally in four of those categories, including No. 3 in the country in RBI per game and No. 7 in home runs per game.