PROVO -- There are only two weeks before the Mountain West Conference Meet in Albuquerque, N.M. and this weekend is the last chance the BYU men's and women's track teams will have to work out the bugs before conference. Most of the men's team and the women's distance squad will be competing at the University of Washington and the women's sprinters and throwers will travel to Albuquerque once more before taking on the conference at the same facility two weeks later.
"This meet will be like a preview of the MWC indoor meet because many of the MWC teams will be in attendance," BYU women's head coach Craig Poole said. "We haven't seen San Diego, Air Force and UNLV. This will help us determine who will represent us at conference."
There are many BYU athletes that have provisionally qualified and many more that are close to those marks. In the distance events, Kassi Andersen and Whitney McDonald are not only qualified but are among the top ten runners in the 3000 meters and the 5000 meters, respectively, in the nation. All-American Amy Fowler has the fastest time in the mile in the conference but has only competed once this season. BYU is dominating the 800 meters. Mindy Neeley, Kelly Furr, and Ashley McAllister are all past the provisional plateau and are at the top of the conference Carlee Clark, Julie Meads, Heidi Houle, Michelle Turner, Heidi Magill and Jenna Lowder hold the top six spots in the 800 meters. This weekend could help the Cougars to improve on their marks and position themselves better in the conference meet.
The men's team will travel to the University of Washington where they will try to solidify who will represent the team at the conference meet.
"This meet is huge," BYU men's head coach Mark Robison said. "This is the last meet of the regular season and this will help determine who will compete in what. There will be good competition and it's a good track to run on."
Niklas Arrhenius is the leading shot putter in the conference, David Pendergrass is the top high jumper and Matt Weirich has the highest vault in the conference this season. All three have provisionally qualifying marks, but those marks do not guarantee they will compete at the national meet. Arrhenius, Pendergrass and Weirich, as well as many other athletes on the team, are looking to improve their chances at conference and nationals. Kyle Perry was an All-American in the 1500 meters last year, and he leads a deep distance team that looks to gather momentum going into the MWC indoor meet. Perry ran the mile in 4:04.53 earlier this season.
"Kyle Perry is closest to qualifying (for nationals)," BYU men's distance coach Ed Eyestone said. "He needs to run under 4:02 to qualify. He's one of the fastest milers in the country."
The heptathlon is a close competition in the MWC and could result in points for the Cougars at the MWC indoor meet. Justin Palmer and Noah Garfield hold top-five performances in the conference. However, Colorado State's Kevin Johnson will challenge the Cougars going into the MWC Championships as the top performer in the event this season.