Cougar Invite, Texas Relays this Week

PROVO -- BYU women’s track and field will have 56 athletes competing at home this Friday at the annual BYU Cougar Invitational at Clarence F. Robison track, and will also send nine athletes to Austin for the prestigious Texas Relays.

The Cougar Invitational will begin on March 31 with the heptathlon and pentathlon, with the main portion of events taking place on April 2. In last season’s Invitational, the Cougars were finished with ten first place marks and two Mountain West Conference-leading marks.

Schools attending this year’s first home meet include Utah State, Utah Valley, Wyoming, Weber State, Southern Utah and Utah. Events will begin on Friday at 10:00 a.m. MST with the men’s hammer and concludes at 5:00 p.m. MST with the men’s 4x400m relay.

Seniors Mindy McClurkin, Amy Otis, Ashley Dziendziel and Kari Clark will lead the group heading to Texas, and will be joined by juniors Mindy Robins and Porshe Giddings. Three underclassman will also attend, including sophomore high jumpers Ada Robinson and Diana Blauer, as well as freshman Rachel Brooke Fisher.

McClurkin will compete in the 100-meters, long jump, 4x100m relay and 4x200m relay. Joining her in the relays will be Otis, Robins and Giddings. Otis will also run the 100m hurdles, while Giddings will join McClurkin in the 100m dash.

Dziendziel, Blauer and Robinson will stick to their usual routine, competing only in the high jump. Clark and Fisher will both compete in the pole vault.

This will be Fisher’s first meet back in her home state of Texas, and will be her second consecutive year competing at the Texas Relays. As a high school senior in 2009, Fisher won the pole vault at this meet with a height of 3.9634-meters, which was the number one height for high school girls at the time.

The Relays will begin on Wednesday March 31 with the men’s decathlon at 11:00 a.m. MST and will conclude Saturday April 3 at 3:45 p.m. MST with the men’s 4x400m relay.

Live Results for the Cougar Invitational can be found at:

http://results.runnercard.com/Results/results.jsp?meetid=2447