Run Utah roundup: BYU women add another DMR indoor national title

PROVO — Death, taxes, and BYU women's distance athletes winning national titles.

Like a rite of passage, the Cougars claimed another crown this weekend.

BYU's women's distance medley relay team won a national title at the NCAA Division I indoor track and field championships Friday night at the TRACK at New Balance in Boston, surging to a time of 10 minutes, 51.42 seconds to clinch the third-fastest DMR in indoor championship history.

The Cougars finished seventh after the two-day competition with 28 points. Arkansas won the women's title with 55 points, followed by Florida (50), Georgia (33), Oregon (31) and Ole Miss (30).

Sadie Sargent opened Friday's DMR with a 3:20.56 finish in the 1200-meter leg. Sami Oblad added a 55.50 split in the 400-meter leg, Carlee Hansen finished in 2:07.50 in the 800, and Riley Chamberlain anchored BYU's second DMR title in four years with a 4:27.78 finish in the 1600-meter leg.

"We put our heads down and worked" said Sargent, whose team already owns the school DMR record. "Coach told us to believe in ourselves and in each other. That is exactly what we did today."

Before the race, BYU coach Diljeet Taylor had a good feeling about the race — so much so that she sent a text to the 2021 national champions of Courtney Wayment, Olivia Hoj-Simister, Lauren Ellsworth-Barnes and Alena Ellsworth "something about sisterhood or something," she recalled to Citius Mag late Friday night.

So when the Cougars fell behind as far as seventh — until Chamberlain was in second for most of the 800-meter leg — the coach of five individual track and field national champions and a women's cross country team title in 2020-21 didn't panic.

Chamberlain overtook the pack led by Notre Dame as she approached the bell lap, and her final sprint carried her to a two-second victory that was just over a second off the meet record.

"I had a good feeling about it, but then it got a little messy in the middle," Taylor said. "But I know what Riley can do in that anchor leg; she's got a tremendous kick, and she is so patient and just executed. We didn't come in talking about a win, but she knew — if you're sitting in second, you can do something amazing."

Lexy Halladay-Lowry added a first-team All-American finish to the quartet after finishing fifth in the 5,000-meter final. Lowry, who was BYU's top finisher at the Big 12 cross country championships in the fall, ran a personal-best time of 15:20.73 to move up to No. 2 in program history.

Jenna Hutchins and Aubrey Frentheway were named second-team All-Americans after finishing ninth and 11th, respectively in the 5,000-meter final with times of 15:31.42 and 15:37.30.

Carmen Alder added a second-team All-American honor with her 15th-place finish in the mile heats in 4:41.55.

Halladay-Lowry added a fourth-place finish in Saturday's 3,000-meter final in 8:53.08, while Chamberlain was sixth in 8:56.89 and Sargent ninth in 9:02.90.

BYU's Meghan Hunter claimed first-team All-American honors with a third-place finish in the 800 with a personal-record time of 2:02.15.

Lucas Bons earned All-American status in the mile with a third-place finish in 4:02.12. Bons was initially disqualified for stepping out of bounds, but head coach Ed Eyestone filed a protest and the result was reinstated after video review determined the sophomore from Dublin, Ohio was shoved over the line before finishing in third.

The Cougars also qualified for the 4x400 relay, with Eli Hazlett, Trey Jackson, Abram Schaap and Josh Taylor finishing 11th in 3:05.56. Aidan Troutner also took second-team All-American status in the mile.

Southern Utah's Astley Davis qualified for the triple-jump finals before finishing 16th with a leap of 15.16 meters. Isaiah Labra added second-team All-America honors after finishing 12th in his preliminary heat in the mile in 4:00.67.

Texas Tech rolled to the men's indoor title, clinching its second national title in program history and third of any kind for the Big 12 school from Lubbock, Texas with 50.5 points. Arkansas finished second with 41 points, just ahead of Florida (39), Northern Arizona (31) and North Carolina (26).

Historic milers

BYU signee Daniel Simmons was busy making history of his own in Boston at New Balance Nationals on the same weekend.

Simmons, the two-time Gatorade cross country runner of the year, led American Fork to a record-setting four-by-mile championship, finishing his split in 4:06 to pace his team to a 16:43.21 finish.

It's the second-fastest finish in U.S. high school history in the indoor 4-by-mile.

"We were going for the national record, but that was just in our minds and hopes," Simmons told MileSplit. "Really we just came here to race as hard as we could, and that's what we did."

Simmons added an individual title in the 5,000-meter Saturday in 13:38.86, breaking the meet-record time of 13:56.82 set by Tyrone Gore in 2023.

American Fork teammate Ben Jester finished third in 14:19.95, and Pleasant Grove's Zach Hillhouse was 12th in 14:52.17.

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