BYU adds 4 more tickets to NCAA championships at West regionals

PROVO — One day after his sister Jane punched her ticket to the NCAA national championships in Eugene, Oregon, Isaac Hedengren made himself a title contender as well.

The junior from Timpview High was one of two qualifiers from BYU in the 5,000-meter run at the NCAA West preliminary round Friday, finished eighth overall in 13 minutes, 43.28 seconds.

He'll be joined at the NCAA championships in the event by teammate Tayvon Kitchen, the standout freshman who took fourth in his heat to claim an automatic qualifier with a 12th-place finish in 13:45.94.

The distance duo were among the Cougars' four bids to the NCAA championships earned Friday in Fayetteville, Arkansas. BYU's 4x400-meter relay team of Ben Barton, Jonah Heimuli, Jayden Jessee and Josh Taylor record a ninth-place time of 3:03.79 in the relay.

The Cougars were boosted by Taylor's anchor leg, which clocked an unofficial split of 44.69 seconds — a mark that would have been the first time in program history for an individual 400-meter dash.

Friday's quartet of bids will give BYU men's track and field team five entries at the NCAA championships held June 10-13 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.

BYU's Carter Cutting cruised to a qualifying time of 3:37.64, finishing second by less than a second behind Oregon's Simeon Birnbaum to earn a spot in the 1,500-meter semifinals with a time that ranks third in BYU program history.

Running in the fastest heat of the night, Cutting finished more than a second ahead of Washington's Martin Barco with his personal-best time of 3:37.64.

BYU's James Corrigan laid down a season-best time of 8:48.114 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, but the former U.S. Olympian in the event did not advance to nationals with a fifth-place finish in the third heat for 20th overall.

Corrigan finished just ahead of Weber State's Owen Rogers, Utah Valley's Cameron Jacobs and BYU teammate Jefferson McMullin — who all finished fifth or worse in their respective heats.

Top local honors in the event led by Iowa State sophomore Joash Ruto in 8:26.87 and Texas Tech's Titus Kimaru in 8:28.68 went to Utah State's Logan Garnica, whose time of 8:36.96 was good for 12th overall but sixth in the second heat.

The top-three runners in each heat plus the next three best times qualified for nationals. The group included Weber State's Peter Visser, who finished just behind Garnica's time in 8:37.57 but advanced with the second-fastest time in heat 3 and No. 13 overall.

Utah State's Landon Bott earned a national berth in the 800-meter run, finished third in the third heat and 13th overall in 1:46.96.

The indoor All-American was fifth after the first lap of the race before making a move, and held on to third place by 0.11 seconds to become the first Aggie to qualify for an outdoor national bid in a middle-distance event since Clay Lambourne did from 2016-18.

"He fought really hard," Utah State coach Artie Gulden said in a news release. "My heart rate was a little high on that last 100 meters but he fought really hard and was able to get to the line before those other guys. All that matters at this meet is that you have a 'Q' after your name, and he's got a 'Q' after his name."

Jane Hedengren will try to add a second regional win to her 10,000-meter finish Saturday when she competes in the 5,000-meter semifinal. That event is scheduled to begin at 8:10 p.m. MT on ESPN+.

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