BYU in 4th place at NCAA track meet

DES MOINES, Iowa — After three days of competition at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, the No. 10 BYU men's track team is in fourth place after picking up eight more points on the day.

BYU has totaled 25.50 points, trailing the leader Florida State with 29.00 overall points. The Cougars have one more opportunity to score with Junior Miles Batty running in the 1,500-meter finals tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. MT. The Championships will be aired live on CBS beginning at 11 a.m. MT.

Senior Leif Arrhenius scored all eight points for the Cougars with a second place finish in the shot put. Arrhenius hit a best mark of 19.37m (63-06.75). With the finish, Arrhenius picks up his second All-American honor of the meet after finishing second in the discus throw on Wednesday.

"He did incredible for us," head coach Mark Robison said. "It was an amazing throw and he really competed down to the end. To score 16 points at Nationals is pretty tough to do."

Also finishing his senior campaign is Trevor Heiner, competing in the high jump. He cleared 2.10m (6-10.75) for a 21st place-finish.

The NCAA Championships continue tomorrow and will be televised live on CBS beginning at 11 a.m. MT. The meet is scheduled to conclude at approximately 1 p.m. MT with the 4x400 relay.

Also on Friday, Weber State senior Brett Hales finished fifth overall in the finals of the men's 3,000 meter steeplechase. Its was a career best time of 8:37.96. The Ogden native earned First Team All-American honors for the first time in his career.

"Brett ran an outstanding race tonight," said WSU distance coach Paul Pilkington. "He moved up really well the last few 800 meters. He was in about tenth place with two laps to go before moving up so he finished the race very strong. It's a great way to finish his track career with First Team All-American honors."