Meet Information: BYU High School Invitational

2017 MR. MAC / BYU INVITATIONAL
May 5 - May 6, 2017
 

2017 marks the 107th running of the BYU Invitational!  In 1911, BYU Athletic Director Eugene Roberts created what has become the BYU Invitational, the longest running and most prestigious track and field invitational in the inter-mountain west.  (See the bottom of the page for a history of the meet.)

2017 Qualifying Standards
 

Time Schedule
Prelim 
as of 05/01/2017

Field Events

Running Events

Entry Limits - Each team can enter athletes into up to 25 events per gender.  This means that each gender can only have 25 participations, regardless of how many athletes are involved.  The relays, and the 3200 are not included in the 25 participations.  Each athlete can participate in up to 4 events, including the relays.  Qualifying marks must come from Utah state-qualifying meets from this current year.  Marks can NOT be from meets outside of Utah. 

Participation - The BYU Invitational is a UHSAA sanctioned high school competition. Each participant must be an eligible member of the track team of a member high school in good standing with the UHSAA or of the state association of a state that borders Utah. Unattached and independent participation is not allowed due to National Federation of High Schools rules.  If all of these things are in place, then the team's coach is welcome to enter his/her athletes into the competition. Each athlete must represent his/her school. And, the school is responsible to pay the entry fee.

Spikes - Spikes can only be 1/4" pyramids.  No needles and no christmas trees; these spikes do significant damage to the track.  (In the evening when no one else is at the track, check out lane 5 on the home stretch to see the damage done by these spikes.)

Field Events - For field events, all athletes will be seeded into flights by division (large or small). The athletes with the best seed marks will be seeded into the later flights. Each athlete will be given three attempts in the flights. The top 9 athletes will each advance to a final, where each be given three additional attempts. The finals will be separated by division. 

3200 - Timed Finals.  All athletes will be pooled together.  60 athletes, 12 from each classification, are accepted into the meet.  The top 12 athletes in each classification will be accepted. Each race will be split evenly into two sections of 30 athletes.  The fastest athletes will be seeded into the second section.

1600 - Timed Finals.  All athletes will be pooled together.  Each race will be split evenly into sections of 20-24 athletes, with the top athletes, regardless of division, competing in the final section.  The final section will be contested during the Golden Hour, with the other sections competing in the morning session.

800 - Timed Finals.  All athletes will be pooled together.  Each race will be split evenly into sections of about 15-18 athletes, with the top 15-18 athletes overall competing in the final section, the final having 15-18 athletes.  The final section will be contested during the Golden Hour, with the other sections competing in the morning session.

Girl's Pole Vault - We will hold the event as long as there are 6 qualified girls in a classification that start the event.  That means that the girls must be registered, check-in and start the event.  If there are less than 6 competitors in one of the classifications and the other classification does have 6, the girls in the incomplete classification will be allowed to participate with the other classification as non-scoring competitors.

Races running Heats/Finals - Athletes will be pooled by division (small and large) and seeded separately by division into heats, using serpentine parameters.  The top 9 athletes from each division will advance to the finals.  The 18 advancing athletes will be grouped together and seeded into two sections, with the top athletes running in the second section, regardless of division.

Relays - The top 9 relays from each classification will be accepted into the meet. Please enter your alternate relay members in positions 5 and 6. The final section will be contested during the Golden Hour, with the other sections competing in the morning session.

Registration - Registration will close on Tuesday, May 2nd, at 7:00 a.m. sharp!

Check-in - All athletes must check-in at least 60 minutes prior to your event.  Athletes that are not checked in on time may be scratched from the competition. 

Reporting - Athletes must report to the bullpen when called.  The posted start time is designed to be when each event should start and does not include time for warm-up.  Field event athletes will be escorted from the bullpen by meet officials at least 10 minutes prior to each start time.

Entry Fees - Entry fees are $5 per athlete.  Each team will be responsible to pay for each athlete entered into the meet through their account, regardless of whether the athlete actually does participate.  The number of athletes in your roster that are registered into events when registration closes will determine your team entry fees.  Please DO NOT bring payment to the meet.  It is most efficient for our financial department to send an invoice to your school after the meet.  Thanks for your support!

"Golden Hour" - Most event finals will be run during the day on Saturday, with the top sections of the finals being run during the "Golden Hour" from 3:00 to 5:00 in the afternoon.  Friday during the day and Saturday in the morning will be the time of the majority of the qualifying rounds for the track events. Field events will be scheduled across both days according to the schedule.  Flights will NOT be split and delayed to hold some during the Golden Hour.  It didn't work very well last year.  Sorry.

Top Athletes Head-to-head - All finals will consist of 1 or 2 sections.  In general, 9 athletes from the large schools and 9 athletes from the smaller schools will advance to a final.  The top 9 athletes will compete in the 2nd section, regardless of whether they are large or small school athletes.  This will allow for the top athletes to compete head-to-head, whether they be a large or a small school athlete, and will enable the exciting "Golden Hour" on Saturday afternoon of most of the top athletes in the meet.  We have medals just the same as last year. We will present medals to the top 3 athletes in each division, regardless of where they place in their respective races, or which race they compete in. Remember that the Golden Hour will generally have two sections of finals. Both sections will be run during the Golden Hour for most races. The only exceptions are some of the relays.

Team Scoring - Team scoring will be the same as always: 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.  Large school athletes will be scored against large school athletes, whether they competed in the same section or not.  Small school athletes will be scored against small school athletes, whether they competed in the same section or not.  Field events will be held over the two days. 

Travel to the meet on Saturday - The Provo River Half Marathon is again being run on Saturday morning. The course of the race is down University Avenue. Buses traveling from the north should exit at 800 North, Orem, and travel east to University Avenue, then turn right.  This will put you on University Ave. before the runners get on the street.  You will have clear travel all the way to the stadium regardless of the time that you travel.

Team Packet pickup - Packet pickup for teams will be available on Friday morning.  Please DO NOT bring payment to the meet.  It is most efficient for our financial department to send an invoice to your school after the meet.  Thanks for your support!

Meet Records - Meet Records are posted online.

Past Results - 
2016 
2015 
2014 
2013
2012
2011,  
2010,  
2009 1A-2A,  2009 3A-5A 
2008 1A-2A,  2008 3A-5A 
2007 1A-2A,  2007 3A-5A 
2006 1A-2A,  2006 3A-5A 
2005 1A-2A,  2005 3A-5A 
2004 1A-2A,  2004 3A-5A
2003 1A-2A,  2003 3A-5A,  2003 Combined  
2002 1A-2A,  2002 3A-5A,  2002 Combined

Qualifying Standards - Each athlete that is accepted into the meet must have met the qualifying standard for each event during this season in a state qualifying meet as certified by the UHSAA.  Seed marks will only be pulled from the database of marks submitted to the UHSAA for this season. 

Brigham Young University Invitational Meet and Relay Carnival.

Gene Roberts explained (162:16) that as soon as he got "settled" and adjusted to his responsibilities at Brigham Young University, he began to put into effect a dream that he had had when he first attended the Pennsylvania Relay Carnival; this was during the Spring of 1910. To begin a miniature carnival at Brigham Young University, he invited several nearby high schools and also the Provo elementary schools to participate in a few competitive track and field events, which included some relays. This was done during the Spring of 1911 in connection with the annual interclass track and field meet.
 
Influencing the beginning, growth, and evolution of the athletic pageant was the unique conception among the Mormon youth of both sexes--competition matching skill against endurance; beauty of performance against its kind; and not man against man nor school against school. Sportsmanship and mutual appreciation were and always have been objectives of the meet (87:77).
 
At the first meet, Roberts recalled (169:24) that the contestants were mainly interclass performers from Brigham Young University, and from three or four schools from Utah county that had been invited to participate. The second year of this event, Heber, from outside the county, was invited, and from that time on the invitations were increased and the number of events were enlarged. As the number of schools increased, it was necessary to divide the squads into "A" and "B" classes. Then the junior colleges, colleges, college freshmen, junior high schools, and finally girls' events were added to the meet, resulting in the huge program that still continues today. Gene Roberts recalled the start as a humble one, and he attributed the growth of the event, in a large part, to the competing coaches. After each meet, Gene would write letters to every one of the coaches and officials who had taken part in the meet, asking for suggestions to improve the events. He would take these suggestions into consideration, and upgrade the meet accordingly. Each year the officials remained the same, so that much of the burden of the meet was able to be placed on the shoulders of those men who knew exactly what was expected of them without help or advice from the leaders.
 
Speaking of this aspect of the meet, Reed Swenson (226) stated: The meet was well organized as to the time of the events, the heats in track events, and the qualifying trials for the field events. Coach Roberts' physical education majors, along with others, would act as officials, judges, recorders, announcers, etc. These experiences assured that every major (physical education) student had the ability to conduct a track meet.
 
Individual competition was the main thrust of the meet, from its inception. One of the major reasons that all around competition was started was to take the strong athletes away from the regular events, and thereby do away with the chance for anyone trying to select a team champion. 
 
Reiterating the purpose of the meet, Coach Roberts emphasized (87:79) "The great purpose of the meet has been clearly understood by the general public for several years. It was to bring together hundreds of athletically inclined and interested people for mutual stimulation and benefit."
 
In an atmosphere of athletic pageantry predominating at the carnival, the stress and strain of competition was lessened, and the spirit of crowd reaction and universal participation found full expression. Points were not awarded winners of places. Instead, individual medals, pennants, and trophies were presented to individuals and teams who happened to emerge victorious from the various competitions.
 
From its small beginning, the meet grew rapidly until it became one of the greatest athletic carnivals in the west; from a few participants to more than three thousand young men and women who competed for medals, trophies, and banners.
 
A unique feature of this event was the Women's Posture Parade. Working first with Algie Ballif and later Wilma Jepson, Coach Roberts helped bring this event into the meet. Algie Ballif (8) related the following: Gene wanted a posture parade, and he knew that I was unusually anxious about the posture of the girls. The first posture parade that was held at Brigham Young University was held while I was teaching physical education there with E. L. Roberts. I am almost sure that he got this idea in Germany, while on his mission. At that time they were at their zenith of greatness and power, and doing so much for all classes, for men and women, to keep them physically fit. We had white suits with dark black bloomers. It was a beautiful sight. We would get up early and go up to the track to
practice, and watch the lines. We had very simple formations. This grew into a great event. It brought together girls from all of the major high schools in Utah. They competed with each other. I have had some of my students tell me, that even in their old age, when they were all crouched down, that they remember the influence of my physical education classes and the influence of E. L. Roberts in the posture parades.
 
Explaining some of the background behind this particular event, Reed Swenson (226) reported: Gene believed that the posture of many women and girls was poor. We were taught how to evaluate the spine for various deformities due to habit. To correct these problems, he added to the Invitational Track Meet, A Posture Parade for high school girls. They would march in groups, and were judged on their posture and formations. As a result of this competition, many of the high schools emphasized posture training in their year-round gym classes. I was teaching at Murray High School from 1929 through 1933, and they had won the merit rating consistently in the Posture Parade, and a tradition of good posture was established.