Cougars Build up to Conference

Jennifer Grossarth ran the fastest 400-meter time of the year for the women's team.

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May 3, 2007

PROVO, Utah - The BYU Cougars' track and field teams sharpened their claws at the Weber Twilight meet Wednesday in preparation for the Mountain West Conference meet next weekend.

"It was a fairly good meet," said BYU men's head coach Mark Robison. "We got a couple more qualifications, and now we are looking at who will go to conference."

Nate Rencher ran the 200 meters for the first time this season and clocked the fastest time of anyone on the team at 21.64, finishing second. Teammate Lance Walker also had his first attempt at the race and finished in a time of 22.20. Stig Robertson had a 49.94 second time in the 400 meters, a season-best mark for him. Jake Garlick improved his time in the 110-meter hurdles to 14.65 and placed second. Walker again improved his time and finished sixth. Brad Ellertson qualified for Regionals in the pole vault by clearing 16 feet 6.75 inches. There are now five pole-vaulters qualified for the West Region meet. The BYU men's 4x100 relay team also improved it's time to 41.40.

The women had a larger group of athletes at Weber and had many top finishes and improvements.

"We got a couple qualifiers, and that's about what we expected," BYU women's head coach Craig Poole said. "We got what we wanted from it, and we're ready to go to conference."

Jennifer Grossarth ran the fastest 400-meter time of the year for the women's team. She finished in a region-qualifying time of 54.42 to take first. Stacy Slight and Jenna Lowder took second and third, respectively, in the 800 meters. Carolyn Quebe and Tawany Bybee placed third and fourth, respectively, in the 1500 meters. Bybee had her best time of the season at 4:40.47. Jenna Jensen won the 5000 meters in 17.42.62. Kathryn Beck placed fourth in the 100 hurdles. Julie Andersen won the 400 hurdles. Kari McAllister won the pole vault, and Katie Hawkins tied for third. Tiffany Arrhenius improved on her region-qualifying mark in the javelin. She won the event with a throw of 153-06, is the third best mark in the MWC. Tipaleli Fotu improved her mark in the discus and finished second in the hammer throw.