As expected, BYU Olympian James Corrigan advanced to the finals of the 3,000-meter steeplechase Wednesday on the first day of competition at the NCAA track and field championships in Eugene, Ore.
Corrigan, who represented the U.S. in last summer’s Olympic Games, ran just fast enough to claim one of the automatic qualifying spots, placing fourth in his heat and fourth overall with a time of 8:24.97.
He will compete in the finals on Friday. The women compete Thursday and Saturday.
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In the day’s only final on the track, BYU’s Creed Thompson and Joey Nokes finished 8th and 14th, respectively, in the 10,000-meter run. Thompson, a junior from Lehi, was timed in 29:11.44. Nokes, a senior from Riverton, had a time of 29:19.76.
The top five finishers were from Africa, four of them from Kenya, led by New Mexico teammates Ishmael Kipkurui and Habtom Samuel. Thompson was the second fastest American.
BYU’s 4 x 400-meter relay team of Eli Hazlett, Josh Taylor, Jonah Heimuli and Trey Jackson advanced to the final, finishing with a time of 3:03.83, the ninth fastest of the 24 teams. Arkansas had the fastest time, 3:02.53.
BYU’s Ben Barton, a 6-foot-5 junior from Michigan, was in third place in the decathlon after completing the first day’s five events. His score of 4,190 points left him two points behind UC-Santa Barbara’s Brad Thomson. Mississippi State’s Peyton Bair, a junior from Idaho, was first with 4,479 points after setting an NCAA decathlon record of 10.25 in the 100-meter dash. He finished the day with a 46.00 in the 400.
The decathlon will conclude on Thursday. All other men’s finals will be held Friday.
Barton had marks of 10.67 in the 100-meter dash (fourth fastest of the competition), 23 feet in the long jump (11th), 41-7 in the shot put (14th), 6-foot-7 in the high jump (7th) and a personal-record 46.59 in the 400-meter dash (2nd).
His teammate, sophomore Jaden Roskelley, was seventh with 4,068 points.
In other local news from these championships:
— Utah Valley’s 4 x 100-meter relay team of Gavin Stafford-Cameron Franklin-Kade Thompson-Gabe Remy had the 10th fastest time out of 24 teams, one place behind USC and one place away from qualifying for the final. UVU entered the meet as the 20th fastest team in the field. The team smashed a school record of 39.13 set earlier this season.
— Utah State’s Logan Hammer, a junior from Idaho, placed 13th in the pole vault with a clearance of 17-5 ¾.
— Weber State’s Peter Visser was 17th in the steeplechase semifinals, with a time of 8:40.84.
The BYU women will be led Thursday by Meghan Hunter and Lexy Lowry, who rank second in the 800-meter and the steeplechase, respectively. They will need to survive Thursday’s semifinals to advance to Saturday’s finals.