Cougar teams seeking MWC track crowns

LARAMIE, Wyo. — Brigham Young University's men's and women's teams each hold down the top spots in their respective divisions entering Saturday's final day of competition in the 2009 Mountain West Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

The Cougars have piled up 84 points to pace the men's team title race, while the BYU women's team, ranked 10th nationally, has a team-leading 64 points.

Wyoming is second among the men's teams with 47 points, followed by New Mexico with 45, Air Force 44, Colorado State 33 and TCU 16. "I'm very pleased; we performed very well today," said BYU men's track and field head coach Mark Robison. "We looked very solid today and most of our athletes advanced to the finals, so tomorrow should be great as well. Our team has great depth and that has helped us to do very well today."

In the women's standings, Colorado State is second with 53 points, while New Mexico sits in third place with 341/2 points and Utah is a close fourth with 34.

Senior All-American Kyle Perry posted a first-place finish in the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 9:17.46, setting a new Louis S. Madrid track record. The previous record was set at 9:30.10.

Perry paced a top-three sweep for Cougars. Richard Nelson came in second with a time of 9:18.72, and Regan Frey finished third in 9:21.98. All three broke the previous track record.

In the men's 10,000-meter run, senior Stephan Shay finishing with a time of 32:31.64. Junior Nathan Ogden was third.

Sophomore Aaron Powell set a personal-best in the long jump at 23 feet, 6 inches. Juniors Daniel Lawson and Trevor Heiner were second in the discus and high jump, respectively.

Leading the way for the BYU women was Cecily Lemmon, who won the 10,000-meter run in a time of 37:27.71.

Kari McAllister-Clark added to the Cougars' success with a second-place finish in the pole vault. And All-American long jumper Mindy Neeley-McClurkin also placed second.

And Lacey Cramer, the 2009 800-meter Indoor National Champion, qualified for today's finals in both the 800- and 1,500-meter events. Cramer finished first in both events with respective times of 2:14.82 and 5:00.68.

For Utah, junior Sarah Grimm and senior Josefin Berg took the top two spots in the women's hammer throw, respectively.

Grimm won the event with a throw of 197 feet, 7 inches to take the title by 3 feet, 4 inches over her teammate Berg. Berg, a senior from Osthammar, Sweden, finished as the runner-up with a mark of 193-3.

Saturday's final competition in MWC Championships begins at noon.