College track: BYU’s Collinsworth leads 22 athletes from Utah schools into NCAA Finals

Track star Shea Collinsworth, like a lot of BYU athletes, meets regularly with the school's mental strength coach, Dr. Craig Manning. This spring, as Collinsworth has prepared for her final race in a Cougar track uniform and arguably the most important 800-meter run of her life, the chats have been about focusing on herself and what she can do rather than on fellow competitors and what Collinsworth has to do to beat them.

"He has helped me find my inner confidence and bring that out a little bit more," Collinsworth said.

Four years of intense training will culminate this weekend when Collinsworth competes against the country's best collegiate middle-distance runners at the NCAA Division I Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Ore. The meet begins Wednesday and runs through Saturday at Hayward Field on the Oregon campus.

The women's 800 semifinals are at 7:14 p.m. MDT Thursday on ESPN2 and the finals are at 5:44 p.m. Saturday on ESPN.

Collinsworth is one of 15 individuals who will represent BYU in 17 events at the meet. Utah State will send four athletes, while Utah, Weber State and Southern Utah will send one athlete apiece.

Collinsworth won the 800 at the NCAA Indoor Championships in February and has the fourth-best time in the country in the 800 this year, but several other Utahns might have better opportunities to bring home a gold medal from nationals. Utah State's Sindri Gudmundsson is a favorite in the javelin, and Utah's Grayson Murphy is highly regarded in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase.

In addition to wanting podium finishes for all their athletes, BYU coaches also have their sights on a high team finish, especially on the men's side. Only Texas A&M (18), Arkansas (16) and Oregon (14) have more entries than BYU (13) on the men's side.

"I am optimistic and excited because we're taking our biggest group since the programs have been combined [at BYU]," Cougars coach Ed Eyestone said. "It is a big deal just to make it. Our student-athletes want to do more than just make it. They are trying to improve on their ranked position going in."

BYU's multiple-event competitors are Tatenda Tsumba in the 100 and 200 and Clayton Young in the 5,000 and 10,000. Tsumba ran in the Rio Olympics for his native country, Zimbabwe.

Of note, husband and wife Mitchell Briggs and Kristi Rush-Briggs both qualified in the 3,000 steeplechase, and Rush-Briggs has the sixth-best time in the nation in that event on the women's side.

BYU's Jackson Walker will compete in the decathlon, which is contested Wednesday and Thursday, for the right to call himself the best college athlete in the country.

BYU's other competitors are Whittni Orton (1,500), Andre Stapleton (high jump), Chase Horrocks (1,500), Korey Smith (400 hurdles), Max Scheible (400 hurdles), Daniel Carney (steeplechase), Jacob Heslington (steeplechase), Zachary Stetler (shot put) and Rory Linkletter (10,000).

drew@sltrib.com

Twitter: @drewjay