BYU athletes Kaiah Fisher, Paje Rasmussen, and Mayci Taylor each secured a top-10 program mark at the Utah Tech Invitational held at Greater Zion Stadium on March 21.
The meet was notable for several record-setting performances by BYU competitors. Fisher achieved her first top-10 performance for BYU in the discus event, earning the No. 5 spot with a throw of 54.35 meters (178-3). This result set a new meet record and placed her nine meters ahead of the next competitor. Jayda Lee finished second in the discus with a throw of 45.35 meters (148-9).
“Kaiah had an excellent opening throw, surpassing her previous personal best from Stanford by a meter,” throws coach Nik Arrhenius said. “She also had several long throws that barely reached the mark, making it exciting to anticipate her performance throughout the rest of the season. Nevertheless, I am highly pleased with her progress considering it was the first meet of the year.”
Rasmussen earned a spot on BYU’s 400-meter program top-10 list by winning the event in 54.06 seconds, which also set a meet record. Kali McEuen finished second with a time of 54.90 seconds. Taylor finished second in the 400-meter hurdles, clocking 58.47 seconds and earning her second spot on BYU’s outdoor program top-10 list.
In other events, three Cougars placed in the top five for shot put: Lia Pili led with a career-best throw of 14.36 meters (47-1.5), Fisher took second at 14.29 meters (46-10.75), and Kat Beachler placed fourth at 13.92 meters (45-8). Mae Johnson won the high jump and set a meet record with a height of 1.71 meters (5-7.25), marking her fourth win in this event including indoor competitions.
Additional results included Tia Brown and Berklie Ahlander finishing third and sixth respectively in their first attempts at the 100-meter hurdles, while Cambria Hasler took fifth place in the 100 meters with a time of 12.07 seconds. Mikensi Smith achieved fourth place in the 200 meters with a personal-best time of 24.66 seconds.
Looking ahead, BYU is scheduled to compete at the UVU Collegiate Invitational on March 26 at Hal Wing Track and Field.
