Men Finish Second, Women Third as Outdoor Track Season Begins at Cal Poly Invitational

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (March 18) - In the first meet of the outdoor season, BYU's men scored 180 points to finish a close second to Utah State (181.5). Cal Poly placed third (173) while Sacramento State was fourth (88). Nevada won the women's competition with 178 points, followed by Cal Poly (138), BYU (133), Utah State (132) and Sacramento State(104).

"Our performances were excellent," said men's coach Willard Hirschi. "We did finish second, but that's not too bad when you consider that we didn't have any entries besides decathletes in five events. Overall it was an excellent outing. We will be much better next week, but this was a great beginning."

Saturday's meet featured the return to action of All-American sprinter Kenneth Andam, who was out six weeks with a high ankle sprain. Andam won the 100-meter title in a time of 10.55, followed by teammates Thobias Akwenye (10.58) and Robert Mugagga (10.64) to sweep the top three spots. Akwenye also placed second in the 200 meters (21.47) and was a member of the winning 4x100 relay team that competed without Andam but still managed an impressive time of 40.71. BYU also picked up a sweep in the 800 meters, as Jeff Hopkinson (1:53.01), Lewis Jones (1:53.81), Tim Franklin (1:54.78) and Andrew Sorenson (1:55.27) claimed the top four spots in the event.

Other event winners included Randy Himes in the 110-meter hurdles (14.15), Kyle Grossarth in the 400-meter hurdles (51.50), Nate Harrison in the 1500 meters (3:53.82), and the 4x400 relay team (3:14.90).

The women were represented by a split squad featuring many of the Cougars' younger athletes. Trinidad native Anna-Lee Walcott continued to impress in her freshman campaign, scoring a win in the long jump with a leap of 19'-0". Also picking up event wins for the women were Becky Jackson in the 400-meter hurdles (1:02.08), Nan Evans in the 1500 meters (4:36.89), Sarah Ellis in the 3000 meters (10:09.96), and Amy Bair in the 5000 meters (17:52.60).

The Cougars will participate in two different meets next weekend, when the distance runners head to the Stanford Invitational, while split squads travel to Tempe for the Arizona State Invitational.