The senior finished in 29:20.31 setting the new facility record by more than 17 seconds, surpassing the previous mark of 29:37.72 set in 1985 to earn his second Big 12 title this year. The Lehi, Utah product won the 3000-meter Big 12 indoor title earlier this season.

Thompson was joined by Hunter Kitchen who finished in 30:08.90 to take 12th overall and Dalton Mortensen who finished 18th.

Carson Riner finished fourth in the javelin throw setting a mark of 67.40m/221-1. He competed alongside Brinton Paulson who finished eighth with a mark of 61.50m/201-9 and Hayden Gribble finishing ninth with a throw of 58.32m/191-4.

Carter Cutting and Caleb Johnson both qualified for the final in the 1500-meter both finishing first in their respective heats. Cutting was sixth overall in the prelims with a time of 3:47.08 and Johnson finished 13th in 3:51.23.

Logan Hubler qualified for the finals in the 400-meter hurdles with his 51.01 second finish to take eighth. He was joined in the event by  Garrett Copelin who finished 11th and Jayden Jessee who finished 10th.

Kaden Passey finished the first half of events in the decathlon with a score of 3620 after five events. Passey finished 12th in the 100-meter, 15th in the long jump, fourth in the shot put with a throw of 13.45m/44-1.5, 15th in the high jump and seventh in the 400-meter coming across the line in 49.71 seconds.

The team finished the day ranked fourth as a team with 16 points.

Women’s track earns podium spots

TUCSON, Ariz. – Alysa Keller and Kat Beachler  took third and fourth in the javelin, Lia Katoa sixth in the hammer throw and Nelah Roberts sixth in the 10,000-meter at the Big 12 Championships at Drachman Stadium.

The Cougars sit third in the team competition after day one with 17 points. Iowa State leads with 24 points, followed by Oklahoma State with 21. Arizona and West Virginia have 13 and 11 points, respectively.

Keller and Beachler combined for 11 points in the javelin. Keller threw a 52.08m/170-10 for third and Beachler posted a 48.79m/160-1 for fourth. Both performances marked new career bests, and Keller’s keeps her at No. 5 all-time at BYU.

Katoa set the No. 2 program mark in the hammer throw as she launched a 59.70m/195-10, earning a sixth-place podium finish in the event. She finished over one meter ahead of the rest of the competition. Additionally, Katoa’s throw is the best in BYU history since 1998. The performance earned the Cougars three points.

Sophomore Roberts took sixth in the 10,000m with a 34:38.89, earning BYU three points.

All six BYU athletes in the women’s 1500m advanced to Saturday’s final. Carmen Alder’s 4:14.08 earned her first place going into the final by more than two seconds. Jane Hedengren was the Cougars’ next qualifier in third, clocking a 4:16.49 in her first-ever 1500m race. Taylor Rohatinsky, Jenna Hutchins, Carlee Hansen-Thompson and Zariel Macchia took sixth, eighth, ninth and 12th, respectively.

After day one of the heptathlon, Zoey Bonds sits in fourth and Tia Brown is in 19th. Bonds’ performance was led by her career-best 1.76m/5-9.25 in the high jump for second and her win in the 100m hurdles with a 13.21. The senior posted 3,548 points Thursday and is 227 points behind the leader, Iowa State’s Zola N’Douma-Mona. Brown’s best event Thursday was the 100m hurdles, where she ran a 13.84 for seventh. Kali McEuen won the preliminary round of the 400m hurdles, crossing in 56.47, nearly 0.2 seconds ahead of the rest of the competition. She will face eight other athletes in Saturday’s final.

Paje Rasmussen took sixth in the 200m prelims with a 22.90. The reigning indoor conference runner-up aims to return to the podium in Saturday’s final.

Baseball rally falls short against No. 14 Kansas

BYU fell short of a comeback against No. 14 Kansas dropping the first of a three-game Big 12 home series 9-6 Thursday at Miller Park.

BYU (26-26, 13-15) scored six runs on 11 hits but stranded 11 runners, while KU (38-15, 21-7) plated nine runs on 12 hits, including three home runs.

Luke Anderson was 3 for 4 at the plate, Crew McChesney drove in three runs and Tua Wolfgramm added two hits for the Cougars.

Kansas came out hot with a leadoff homerun to deep center field for a 1-0 lead.

In the third, Kansas led off with a walk and a wild pitch that put runners on first and second. The Jayhawks then hit a single that scored a run to go ahead 2-0. A few pitches later, Kansas scored twice more on a triple into deep left field to take a 4-0 lead.

In the fourth inning despite loading the bases with no outs, the Jayhawks were held scoreless thanks to a strikeout and a double play that kept the Cougar deficit at four. A two-run home run in the top of the fifth pushed the KU lead to 6-0.

With two outs in the bottom of the fifth, Ezra McNaughton and Ryder Robinson drew walks and Easton Jones was hit by a pitch to load the bases. McChesney then doubled to the wall in the right-center gap, clearing the bases and immediately collapsing the Kansas lead in half. Moments later Wolfgramm hit a laser down the third base line just fair for a double that scored McChesney to tighten the score at 6-4.

After holding Kansas scoreless in the top of the sixth, Bryker Hurdsman tripled down the first base line to open the bottom of the inning and Anderson was hit by a pitch to put runners on the corners. Robins on then singled to centerfield scoring Hurdsman and sending Anderson to third. On the ensuing at bat Jones singled to left field scoring Anderson and knotting the game at 6-6.

Kansas then retook the lead on a home run to centerfield to go up 7-6 in the seventh and added two more insurance runs in the eighth for a final score of 9-6.