March 20, 2008

LOGAN, Utah - Utah State track and field teams will begin their outdoor season at the Willie Williams Invitational in Tuscan, Ariz., Friday and Saturday, March 21-22, hosted by the University of Arizona.

The Aggie men and women will compete against host Arizona along with Air Force, BYU, LSU and Texas-Arlington.

Events are scheduled to start Friday with field events beginning at 5:30 p.m. (MST) and running events at 7:45 p.m. (MST). Events will continue Saturday beginning at 9:30 a.m. (MST) for both field and running events. All events will take place in the Roy P. Drachman Stadium.

"The outdoor season is what we've been waiting for, it's always nice to be outside," said USU head coach Gregg Gensel.

The Aggie men's team is coming of a first-place finish at the Western Athletic Conference Indoor Championships held earlier this month at Boise State. Junior John Strang earned the WAC Indoor Men's Track Athlete of the Year and Gensel was named the WAC Indoor Track and Field Men's Coach of the Year for the second-straight year.

"We've accomplished some great things during the indoor season and now we just need to build on what we've already done," said Gensel.

Last year the Aggies had six individual winners and four second-place finishes at the meet in Tucson. Among the winners was Stacie Lifferth, who posted a regional qualifying mark with her time of 10:43.08 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, along with Amy Egan, who won the 800m with a time of 2:11.44.

After traveling to Arizona, USU will continue action in Provo, Utah as they compete in the Brigham Young Invitational Friday, April 4.