Tough day for Utahns at regional

The first day of the NCAA West Regional Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Ore., was a successful one for some but a largely disappointing one for many of Utah's top collegians.

A number of athletes from Utah's big-five schools posted qualifying times to move on to today's finals in the track events, with only BYU's Niklas Arrhenius, Matt Weirich and Whitney McDonald notching marks that automatically qualified them for the NCAA Championship meet in two weeks.

Other favorites, however, failed to advance to today's final events, ending their seasons on a sour note.

"I think for the most part we survived," said BYU men's coach Mark Robison.

"We had some good performances and some that weren't quite as good as we'd hoped."

Arrhenius led the way with a win in the discus, throwing 206 feet, 3 inches for the victory and 10 points for his side.

"I was hoping he'd win, because we're having a hard time scoring many points," Robison said.

Weirich finished fourth in the pole vault (17-05), one of few bright spots for the Cougars. Disappointing performances in the 1,500-meter run and a handful of injuries took their toll on BYU, opening the door for the competition. On the other hand, a number of Cougars and other in-state athletes fared well.

BYU's McDonald solidified her claim as one of the top 5,000-meter runners in the country with her performance Friday evening, jumping out in a quick pace and opening up a large gap on the field. She led the entire race before Stanford's Teresa McWalters caught her in the final few meters, with McDonald finishing second in a time of 16:05.30. Teammate Mindy Neeley jumped to a sixth-place finish in the long jump (20-02.25), providing additional points for BYU.

Weber State's Terrell Brown jumped 24 feet, 0.75 inches for ninth place in the long jump, with Southern Utah's Nate Ott also coming in ninth in the hammer throw (198-07). BYU's Piret Kuresson finished 10th in the women's javelin (146-05), with teammate Tiffany Arrhenius following in 16th place (140-01) for the Cougars.

Local women did well on the track, with five of the eight finals spots going to Utah athletes in the 400-meter hurdles. BYU's Jennifer Grossarth (59.12 seconds) led the way, with Utah's Chelsea Shapard and Amanda Feigt qualifying, along with Amber Peterson of Utah State and BYU's Sandra Mazan.

Peterson also qualified for finals in the 100-meter hurdle (13.64 seconds).