BYU Teams Split Between Ogden and Arkansas

PROVO -- In their final weekend of competition before the Mountain West Conference Championships, the BYU men's and women's track teams are concentrating solely on qualifying as many athletes as possible for the NCAA Championships, which are now just a month away.

The Cougars will send 32 athletes--16 from each team--to the Tyson Invitational in Fayatteville, Arkansas, which will feature some of the top-ranked teams in the country in the 21-team field. The rest of the team will compete in the Wildcat Invitational hosted by Weber State University in Ogden, Utah.

At the Arkansas meet, the men's team will be running most of its sprinters and hurdlers, as well as a pair of 800-meter runners and two relay teams. The Cougars hope to qualify both thier 4x400-meter and their distance medly relay team for the national championship meet. BYU will also send two field events competitors in long jumper Clifford Andam and shot putter Jim Roberts. The shot put will likely be one of the most highly contested events of the meet, as the No. 1 and No. 2 throwers in the nation square off. SMU's Janus Robberts holds the top mark in the country this year with a put of 20.56 meters. BYU's Roberts is coming off a career best of 66'10.00" (20.37) last weekend.

The BYU women's team will send a solid group of middle distance runners, with six entries in the mile run, and several field events competitors to the Tyson Invitational. Senior All-American Kirsten Bolm set a meet record in the 60-meter hurdles at the Minnesota Invitational earlier this year. Her time of 8.34 currently ranks No. 14, and is less than two tenths of a second from the No. 1 time.

The Wildcat Invitational will be held on Saturday, and the Tyson Invitational will be run on Friday and Saturday.