April 3, 2008

LOGAN, Utah - After a week off, Utah State track and field teams will return to action by heading to Provo, Utah to compete in the Brigham Young University Cougar Invitational Friday, April 4.

Both the running and field events will begin at 11 a.m. Friday at BYU's Clarence Robison Track.

Other teams competing at the meet include BYU, Southern Utah, Utah (women), Utah Valley, Weber State and Wyoming.

"This meet is always a nice meet because it's early in the season, and our athletes get a chance to run in fairly decent weather, but it's against people they've competed against all year long, in one way, shape or form," USU head coach Gregg Gensel said.

"Most of our athletes are from southern Idaho and Utah, so this meet is close enough that they have the rare opportunity to compete in front of their family and friends, since lots of them come to these local meets," Gensel said.

Live results are available through BYU's web site: www.byutrack.com and clicking on "home meet information."

Live Results

Last year, current junior Tara Pickett placed third in the women's high jump with a height of 5-03.00. Other notable finishes include the women's 4x400 relay team who took fifth-place with a time of 3:25.72 and current sophomore Jared Glenn's seventh-place finish in the men's 1,500m with a time of 4:07.12.

This is USU's second outdoor meet of the season after competing in the Arizona Willie Williams Invitational on March 21-22.

"The first meet we had outdoors, it was hot, nearly 40 degrees warmer than what we were used to, so we didn't have our best meet, but I would've been worried if we did, coming out of our first outdoor meet," Gensel said.

Freshman Silas Pimentel currently has the fastest time in the Western Athletic Conference in the 100 meter dash with a 10.66, while senior Dasheek Akwenye has the WAC's fastest time in the 400 meter dash at 47.24. Sophomore Jason Holt holds the conference top time in the 1,500 with a 3:53.31 while the Aggies' 4x100 meter relay team has the league-best 41.35 time.

In the field events, junior John Strang has the best performance in the high jump at 6-6.75 while classmate, Blake Hadfield holds the top distance in the long jump at 22-8.50. Freshman Joe Canavaan has a conference-best 55-0 in the shot put, while senior Chase Taylor has a 195-1 in the javelin for the top distance in the conference.

Senior Stacie Lifferth-Dorius has a WAC-best time in the 3,000 meter steeplechase with a regional qualifying time of 10:46.61. That is the only top mark in the WAC for the Aggie women, but Utah State has 11 other top five performances.

"Depending on what the weather's like, I think we'll be more competitive this week and that's what you want to happen," Gensel said. "You want the team to get better and better, and you want the athletes to have more and more success. This is all part of our continued preparation for the WAC Championships. That's why we go through the whole year, so we can perform at our best heading into the WAC Championships, then into the NCAA Regionals and hopefully into the NCAA National meet."

After competing in Provo, the Aggies will travel to Los Angeles, Calif., Thursday-Saturday, April 10-12, where they will compete in the Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner Kersee Invitational.