Olympic overview: Runner Michael Bluth sets the all-time BYU record in the 400-meter

The BYU Olympic sports had another impressive week, with school records set in track and field and dramatic wins for women’s soccer and baseball.

Track and field

The BYU men’s and women’s track and field teams competed in the Jim Click Shootout in Tucson, Arizona, over the weekend, setting new school records along the way. Senior All-American Michael Bluth broke the 22-year-old BYU 400-meter record with a time of 45.68 seconds. Bluth was previously No. 7 on the BYU Top 10 board, clocking a time of 46.01 seconds in 2019.

Senior All-American Halley Folsom Walker moved up the BYU Top 10 list to No. 6 for the heptathlon recording a career-best 5,525 points. The All-American set personal records in the 100-meter hurdles (14.13), 200-meter (25.65), javelin (39.65 meters), and 800-meter (2:10:76). 

Junior Sable Lohmeier El-Bakri entered the BYU Top 10 list at No. 10 in the women’s hammer with a personal-best toss of 54.34 meters.

Junior Dallin Vorkink recorded a career-best in the decathlon with 7,501 points. Vorkink also recorded personal-bests in the shot put (14.12 meters), 400-meter (51.11 seconds), discus (41.36 meters), and 1500-meter (4:33.73). Senior Colten Yardley recorded a personal-best 50.79 seconds in the 400-meter hurdles. Freshman Adaobi Tabugbo ran a career-best 13.80 seconds in the 100-meter. Senior Kyle Strauss clocked a personal-best 14.31 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles.

Junior All-American Ashton Riner won the women’s javelin, recording a throw of 55.34 meters. Freshman Dallin Shurts recorded a personal best in men’s discus with a toss of 56.00 meters.

Women’s soccer

The No. 16 women’s soccer team locked up its first win at Pepperdine since 2012, beating the No. 25 Waves 2-1. Senior All-American Mikayla Colohan scored the first goal of the match in the 26th minute, coming off an assist from senior Cameron Tucker. Neither team scored for the remainder of the half.

The Cougars added to their lead as Colohan sent a ball through defenders to the foot of Tucker who shot the ball into the bottom right corner of the net. Tucker is now on a five-game scoring streak and had her eighth goal of the season. Pepperdine tried to close the gap with a goal coming in the 68th minute, but BYU held on for the 2-1 win.

BYU returns home for the season finale and senior night against Portland on April 17 at South Field.

Softball

BYU hit two major milestones in a series sweep of Saint Mary’s. Senior Rylee Jensen McFarland recorded her 200th career run in game two, placing her at No. 2 all-time at BYU, with only 15 runs to reach the No. 1 spot, and No. 3 nationally among active players. Senior Autumn Moffat-Korth recorded her 300th strikeout in game three of the series and now sits at 306 for her career. 

BYU overcame a 6-1 deficit at the bottom of the third in game one of the series. After producing four runs in the fourth and five runs in the fifth, the Cougars finished with a 10-6 victory. BYU played a doubleheader on April 10 and came out with two wins: 8-5 in game two of the series and 1-0 in the final game. 

The Cougars return home to take on Idaho State next on April 13, followed by the Crosstown Clash against UVU on April 14.

Baseball

The Cougars went 1-2 in their three-game series against Portland. BYU dropped game one 5-3 after starting off with an early lead. BYU held a 3-2 lead going into the seventh inning, but Portland was able to capitalize off a BYU error with three runs to take the lead, 5-3.

BYU came back on night two with a 1-0 win off a Jacob Wilk walk-off. Wilk hit a line drive to the left-field wall in the bottom of the ninth to bring home Hunter Swapp from second for the win.

The Cougars came up short on day three, falling 7-6 to the Pilots. BYU and Portland went back and forth, with BYU taking a 2-0 lead at the bottom of the third off a two-run double from Hayden Leatham. Portland came back at the top of the third and took a 3-2 lead. BYU then had a three-run RBI double from Brock Watkins in the bottom of the third. The Pilots took the lead at the top of the ninth, however, with an RBI single to win 7-6. 

BYU will host in-state rival Utah on April 13 before traveling for a three-game series against Omaha on April 15-17.

Tennis

Men’s tennis swept San Diego 4-0 to improve to 5-0 in conference play and remain on top of the WCC leaderboard. The Cougars started off with doubles earning victories at No. 1 and No. 2. No. 1 through No. 4 in the singles matches went into third sets. Cougars came out on top in all six singles matches, securing BYU’s fifth sweep this season. 

BYU will host San Francisco on April 16 and in-state rival Utah on April 17 in the final two home matches of the season.

Women’s tennis fell 6-1 to San Diego this weekend, ending a three-match win streak. BYU picked up its only point with a Kara Lin win over Andryukhov in the No. 5 slot.

BYU will face its final road trip as the Cougars face off against Santa Clara on April 16 and San Francisco on April 17.

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