Cougars finish 5th at regional meet

EUGENE, Ore. — With individual championship performances from freshman Heidi Magill in the 1,500 meters, Aneta Lemiesz in the 800 meters, Rena Chesser in the steeplechase, Kamila Rywelska in the women's triple jump, Rodrigo Mendes in the men's triple jump and Robison Pratt and Trent Powell sharing the title in the pole vault, both the BYU men's and women's track teams earned fifth-place team finishes at the NCAA West Region Track & Field Championships.

Magill will represent BYU at the NCAA National Championships following a spectacular performance in the 1,500 meters. A native of Orem, Magill jumped out to an early lead in the event and set the pace for nearly 1,350 meters until Johanna Nilsson of Northern Arizona snatched the lead with just over 150 meters left in the race. Magill, running like a seasoned veteran however, pulled even with Nilsson with 40 meters left and regained the lead from the All-American to win the regional 1,500-meter title in a time of 4:18.19.

Lemiesz set a West regional meet record in the 800 meters, dominating the event in a time of 2:03.90.

The native of Aleksandrow Lodzki, Poland, jumped out to an early lead over the first 500 meters before extending her lead down the backstretch. Lemiesz then cruised down the home stretch for the uncontested victory.

Chesser won the second of two sections in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in personal-best time of 10:13.78, improving on her PR by more than 29 seconds. Her time was good enough for the overall victory in the event.

Despite winning the first of two sections in the event, junior Lisa Pratt finished sixth overall in a time of 10:24.64, and failed to earn one of five automatic-qualifying spots in the event.

The Cougars took the top-two places in the men's pole vault, picking up 18 team points for the men's team. After both Robison Pratt and Powell were the only two competitors to clear 17-01 in the pole vault, the BYU duo elected to end the competition after both failed to clear 17-09, giving each a share of the region title.

Rywelska needed her final attempt in the triple jump to edge past Stanford's Erica McLain to win the West Region title in the event. Rywelska, a native of Pastek, Poland, won the event in the sixth round with a distance of 42-10.75, beating McLain by 4.5 inches.

In the final event of the evening, Mendes won the triple jump with a mark of 55-05.00, beating Allem Simms of USC by just three-quarters of an inch.