Men's track team wins conference title

PROVO — The No. 5 BYU men's track and field team won the 2008 Mountain West Conference Indoor Championships last weekend.

"We had a very good competition; the kids really did what we had hoped for," said men's head coach Mark Robison. "We had some outstanding performances and we have some kids that had personal bests."

BYU's Kyle Perry won the mile and Keith Jensen won the 800 meters Saturday, while Cougar winners Friday included Justin Palmer in the heptathlon and Bryce Bergen in the high jump. Robison was also honored as co-MWC coach of the year.

"It is always an honor to be recognized," sad Robison. "But it is really a recognition of our staff and that is the way it should be. We have got one of the best staffs in the conference and I believe in the nation."

The BYU women finished third, behind TCU and Colorado State. BYU's Angela Wagner won the women's mile and later in the day finished second in the women's 3,000 meters. Carlee Clark-Platt led the first-through-fourth Cougar sweep in the women's 800, then she joined Anna Sperry, Jenna Lowder and Stacy Slight to give BYU the title in the women's distance medley.

The Cougars will have several athletes at this weekend's Notre Dame Last Chance Invitational, trying to qualify for nationals.

Robison said he is amazed by how competitive the field is going into the NCAA Championships, noting that many athletes this year are in lower positions then their times would have put them in year's past.

"I don't know it is a weird year and most of the events are just incredible," he said. "I am in awe of how fast things are right now."

SWIMMING AND DIVING: The 2008 Mountain West championships ended just as they did a year earlier, with the Cougar women taking home a championship and the men finishing second behind UNLV.

BYU senior Angela Goodson-Price won the 200-yard butterfly for the second straight year, finishing with a time of 2 minutes, 1.39 seconds. Gregor Greiner led the men by finishing in second place in the 100 freestyle with a time of 44.53.

Yearlong individual awards were also given out — BYU diver Tawni Jones was named the Female Diver of the Year and women's coach Keith Russell was named the women's Diving Coach of the Year.