• Five Cougars qualified for the NCAA Indoor National Championships and were thus named USTFCCCA All-Americans, including Whittni Orton, Elise Romney and the distance medley relay squad that included Alena Ellsworth, Lauren Ellsworth-Barnes, Anna Camp-Bennett and Orton. Orton was the No. 1 seed in the 3000m and the DMR team was the No. 1 seed.
• Whittni Orton was named a candidate for the 2020 Bowerman Award, presented by the USTFCCCA. She owned the fastest 3000m time in the country (8:49.6), was part of the fastest DMR team in the country and set the BYU indoor records in the mile, 3000m and 5000m and was part of the DMR team that set the school record.
• Six school records were broken, including Jaslyn Gardner in the 60m, Whittni Orton in the mile, 3000m and 5000m, Elise Romney in the pole vault and the DMR team of Lauren Ellsworth-Barnes, Alena Ellsworth, Whittni Orton and Anna Camp-Bennett.
• The Cougars were ranked as high as No. 9 during the season, the program’s highest ranking since 2012. BYU was ranked No. 20 heading into the NCAA Indoor Championships.
• At the MPSF Championships, Anna Camp-Bennett won the 800m title while Elise Romney (pole vault) and Lauren Ellsworth (800m) took second in their respective events.
Season Review
The 2020 BYU women’s track and field season was filled with record-breaking performances and potential for glory at the NCAA Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Due to circumstances regarding the spread of COVID-19, the indoor championships and the entire outdoor season were canceled while coaches and athletes were on the track preparing to compete the next day.
Five athletes had qualified for the NCAA Championships, including Whittni Orton in the 3000m, Elise Romney in the pole vault and the distance medley relay squad of Orton, Alena Ellsworth, Anna Camp-Bennett and Lauren Ellsworth-Barnes. Orton and the DMR team entered the meet with the top times in the nation and were the favorites to win titles.
Associate director of track and field and cross country Diljeet Taylor broke the news to her athletes and did her best to provide hope during an uncertain time.
“We had a great season, and that’s what matters,” Taylor said to her athletes. “I’m proud of you guys. You fought; you guys were here for each other. And I believe you were going to do it. We’ve got a lot of running left to do.”
"It's hard to look at those women and think about the opportunity that they missed, because they were going to do something really special and bring something special back to Provo,” Taylor said after returning to Utah.
Despite the disappointing end to the season, 2020 was a memorable year for so many athletes who recorded personal records and climbed the school’s top-10 record board.
Orton started the season strong, heading east to the Boston University Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener where she set the BYU 5,000m record on Dec. 7. Her time of 15:22.98 broke the old record by nearly 30 seconds.
In the first meet of 2020 at the BYU Indoor Invite, sophomore Jaslyn Gardner broke the school record in the 60m with a time of 7.39 while several other Cougars set personal records. The next week, BYU competed at the Air Force Invitational. Thanks to event wins by Gardner (200m) and Lauren Rawlinson (400m), Kyndal Stewart-Pothier (pole vault) and the mile relay squad, the Cougars finished first at the meet.
Orton broke another BYU record at the Dr. Sander Invitational in New York on Jan. 25 as she clocked a time of 4:29.76 in the mile. She broke the previous BYU record by nearly five seconds and crossed the finish line right after professional Adidas runner Nikki Hiltz.
Another week and Orton was part of another broken record, this time in the distance medley relay. At the UW Invite on Feb. 1, Orton teamed up with Camp-Bennett, Ellsworth and Ellsworth-Barnes to break the BYU and Dempsey Indoor Track Arena record with a time of 10:53.9. The record did not come without some drama. The night before, the Cougars were on track to break the record but the race was cut short due to an officiating error. BYU broke the record running for a second time in two days.
• Anna Camp-Bennett: USTFCCCA All-American, DMR; MPSF Champion, 800m
• Alena Ellsworth: USTFCCCA All-American, DMR
• Lauren Ellsworth-Barnes: USTFCCCA All-American, DMR
• Whittni Orton: USTFCCCA All-American, DMR & 3000m
• Elise Romney: USTFCCCA All-American, Pole Vault
Another record fell the next week in Boise at the Jackson’s/Nike Boise Indoor Invite as Elise Romney set the BYU pole vault record. Her mark of 4.31m/14-1.75 eclipsed the previous record of 4.30m/14-1.25 set by Christen Botteron Guenther in 2012.
The Cougars returned to the Dempsey Indoor Track Arena for a meet on Feb. 14-15 and Orton put on another show, this time breaking the BYU record in the 3,000m with a time of 8:49.63, shattering the previous record by 11 seconds. Orton’s DMR teammates all climbed the record board in the 800m as Ellsworth-Barces moved up to No. 6, Camp-Bennett claimed the No. 7 spot and Ellsworth landed at No. 9. At the Texas Tech Shootout the same weekend, Hannah Nealis ran her way into the all-time top 10 in both the 200m and 400m with times of 24.21 in the 200m (No. 7) and 55.28 in the 400m (No. 9).
In what ended up being the final meet of 2020, several Cougars had strong performances at the MPSF Indoor Championships. Camp-Bennett won the 800m (2:04.19) and took fourth in the mile (4:38.54) to score 15 points for her team. She moved up the BYU record boards in both events, climbing to No. 5 in the 800m and No. 4 in the mile. Ellsworth was right behind Camp-Bennett (2:04.79) to claim second in the 800m and Romney had a strong showing in the pole vault, clearing 4.10m/13-5.25 to take second. BYU finished eighth as a team.
