UW's Tanner Easily Punches Ticket To NCAA Indoor Nationals; BYU's Bons Surprises With Massive PR And First Sub-Four

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Photo courtesy University of Washington/Red Box Pictures

Sam Tanner raced Saturday for the first time this winter at Dempsey Indoor at the Husky Classic and nailed down an NCAA qualifying time in the mile. That was somewhat expected.

BYU freshman Lucas Bons held on to Tanner, ran in his slipstream, and ran a huge lifetime best as both runners moved into the top five on the NCAA list. 

Tanner, a sophomore standout from New Zealand, returned to the U.S. in February and promptly broke the collegiate record in the 1,500 meters Feb. 13 at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix at Ocean Breeze in New York City. 

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On Saturday, Tanner followed the pacing of teammate Andrew Jordan and then ran hard to hold of Bons, 3:55.23 to 3:55.45. 

Tanner was smiling as he finished the race and he ran the second-fastest indoor mile in UW history, behind Izaic Yorks (3:53.89) in 2016. 

Bons became the second BYU athlete to go under 3:56, joining school record holder Miles Batty, who ran 3:54.54 in 2012. Bons' previous best was a 4:09.25  for 1,600 meters in 2018 when he was a high schooler in Ohio. 

"A 3:55 any day is good, can't complain, happy to go to nationals," said Tanner in a UW release." I knew I could get the qualifier so I just went out and wanted to race nice and relaxed and then pick it up the final 800."

In the women's 800, Hanna Green of OTC Elite ran a Dempsey record 2:01.14 and BYU's Claire Seymour ran 2:02.20 to move to No. 4 on the Division 1 list. 

Nine women ran under 2:07. 

Washington State ran 9:36.49 in the distance medley relay, which puts the Cougars in a tie for 14th on the qualifying list. 

Washington's Parker Kennedy won a head-to-head matchup with Washington State's Cody Teevens in the heptathlon, 5,231 to 4,699.