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PROVO — Two of BYU's brightest distance stars shined at the Big 12 indoor track and field championships over the weekend.
Sixth-year senior Casey Clinger paced the BYU men's indoor track and field team to a third-place finish at the conference championships Saturday in Lubbock, Texas, while fellow senior Lexy Halladay-Lowry won her second Big 12 title with a 15-minute, 32.52-second 5,000-meter finish to lead the BYU women to second place with 72 points.
Riley Chamberlain added a women's individual title in the mile, finishing in 4:31.78 — nearly six seconds ahead of Iowa State's Bella Heikes.
"Both teams performed exceptionally well," BYU director of track and field Ed Eyestone said. "I'm super pleased. It was a great improvement from last year. We came within a point of second place on the men's side, and we got second place on the women's side. Amazing for the women to get second.
"For the men, third for a second year in the Big 12 is huge for us. We definitely made a big power statement, and we're excited in the direction. Overall, the team performance was phenomenal."
Texas Tech swept the team titles with 130 points in the men's competition — 40 points ahead of second-place Oklahoma State — and the women out-gunning the Cougars with 113.5 points.
Clinger started the weekend with an individual title in the 5,000-meter run Friday, clinching his first conference title since the Cougars joined the Big 12 a year ago in 13 minutes, 29.61 seconds — a new Big 12 indoor meet record.
The former Gatorade national cross country runner of the year from American Fork out-kicked Oklahoma State's Denis Kipngetich and BYU teammates Creed and Davin Thompson for the win.
"It felt like a cross country race in that 5K," BYU distance coach Ryan Waite said. "Having five guys in the race, four of them scoring, people taking turns leading and pushing the pace, and making the field hurt is more of what we like to do in the fall.
"We as coaches talked about that the night before with all the distance guys, making it like cross country. Just make it hurt and don't worry about anything else. It was really great to see everyone respond the way they did."
BYU also added second-place finishes in the heptathlon, where Ben Barton broke his own program record with 5,944 points that included a 7.85-second finish in the 60-meter hurdles, and the 800 meters, where Tyler Matthews finished in 1:47.67.
For the BYU women, Sami Oblad placed third in the 400 with a program-record time of 51.70; Tessa Buswell was third in the 800 in 2:03.43; and Jenna Hutchins added a third-place finish in the 3,000 meters in 9:08.72.
The Utah women finished 15th in the 16-team conference meet with 13 points, led by Mille Wilcox's fifth-place finish in the mile in 4:42.65 and Erin Vringer's fifth-place time in the 3,000 meters in 9:09.14.
The NCAA indoor track and field championships are scheduled for March 14-15 in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
WAC CHAMPIONS!!!!#GoUVU | #ValleyForgedpic.twitter.com/rsg8BeJHyw
— UVU Track & Field / XC (@UVUtfxc) March 2, 2025
Utah Valley women capture WAC indoor title
Utah Valley's Quincy Bonds broke the Western Athletic Conference indoor meet record in the women's 60-meter hurdles final, clocking a time of 8.18 seconds to finish first and help the Wolverines to the team title Saturday in Spokane, Washington.
The Wolverines compiled 169 points to win Utah Valley's first indoor team title since joining the WAC as Bonds was named most outstanding women's track athlete after also finishing second in a personal-best time of 7:35 in the 60-meter finals.
Caila Odekirk won the women's 3,000-meter title in 9 minutes, 36.88 seconds. It's her third individual WAC title in the past two years, joining an outdoor 5,000 and 10,000 meter championship.
Elisabeth Ferrell added a second-place finish in the women's mile in 4:52.36.
Mo Guled won a pair of individual titles for the Utah Valley men's team, including a first-place finish in the 3,000 meters in 8:11.80 to pace the Wolverines men's team to a second-place finish.
Defending champion Gabe Remy of Utah Valley clocked a personal-best time of 6.69 to finish second in the 60-meter dash to two-time former champion Justin Raines of Grand Canyon. The Lopes edged Utah Valley by 3 points, 157-154.
