BYU's Pratt captures NCAA championship in pole vault

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — BYU junior Robison Pratt claimed the NCAA National Championship in the pole vault to highlight the action on Friday at the 2005 NCAA Track & Field National Championships.

Pratt's championship marked the first individual national title for the BYU men since Leonard Myles-Mills captured the 100-meter championship in 1999.

The Cougars also picked up four more All-America citations, including Rena Chesser in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, Josh McAdams in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, Trent Powell in the pole vault and Pratt in the pole vault.

Below is an event-by-event recap of Friday's action at the 2005 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

In other events:

HEPTATHLON: After earning All-America honors with a fourth-place finish in the high jump Thursday, BYU sophomore Amy Menlove began the first day of competition in the heptathlon with a third-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles. Menlove won the second of three heats in a time of 13.54 to pick up 1,044 points. Menlove finished third overall behind Eastern Michigan's Lela Nelson (13.49) and Texas-San Antonio's Ryanne Dupree (13.51).

In the high jump, Menlove cleared a career-best 5'06.50" to pick up 842 points and finish tied for tenth in the event. After two events, Menlove was in sixth place in the heptathlon with 1,886 points.

In the shot put, Menlove was credited with a career-best mark of 35'06.50" to finish 24th in the event. Menlove, who has only been throwing the shot put for just over a year, picked up 584 points and held 11th place after three events with 2,470 points.

Menlove turned in a 24.81 in the second heat of the 200 meters to finish second behind Nelson of Eastern Michigan. Nelson finished in a time of 23.78.

She picked up 904 points in the 200 meters and finished day one of the heptathlon in 10th place with 3,374 points. The heptathlon will conclude on Saturday with competition in the long jump, javelin and 800 meters.

MEN'S TRIPLE JUMP (Qualifying): If it weren't for a little thing called an "illegal wind," Cougar Rodrigo Mendes' first (and only) attempt in the qualifying round of the men's triple jump would have been the third longest mark in the world this year. It would have also blown past the BYU record by nearly two feet.

Jumping with a tail wind of 3.4 meters per second, Mendes' jump did not qualify for record purposes. With his mark of 57'06.50", however, Mendes automatically qualified for the finals with the top overall jump in Thursday's competition.