PROVO, Utah - No. 9 BYU men’s track and field recorded three new personal records in the 400-meter hurdles, javelin throw and pole vault during Wednesday’s home meet at the Robison Track & Field Complex.
A rare 800-meter qualifier, Fernandez is one of 21 bids from BYU headed to the national meet, which ties for the eighth-best mark nationally. Texas leads all schools with 33 entries.
BYU’s star runner Courtney Wayment can run a wide range of races, but her heart is in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, her father’s event. The steeplechase, which was originally an Irish horse race from one steeple to the next over streams and stone walls, throws in her path water jumps and heavy wooden barriers spread out over nearly two miles.
This seems an entirely fitting challenge for Wayment. Ever since she took up running, she has had to hurdle every manner of obstacle thrown in her way, from a mysterious illness that had her sucking oxygen from a tank between races, to blackouts and repeated leg injuries, to the COVID-19 shutdown, to the clutches of a possessive club soccer coach. Her talent was such that it was tempting to wonder what she could do if she ever could train and race unfettered by such problems.