PROVO -- Athletes from BYU's men's and women's track teams will be competing on Friday and Saturday at the University of Washington Invitational in Seattle, Wash., and the Air Force Invitational, in Colorado Springs, Colo.
The Air Force Invitational, which has events starting at 12 p.m. on Friday, will feature about 20 teams from all over the United States. Some of Friday's events include all of the pentathlon events, some of the heptathon events, the 200-meter, 400-meter and 800-meter qualifying heats and the women's pole vault finals.
Ashley McAllister, a senior from Fair Oaks, Calif., has already set a national provisional mark of 13-02.50 in the pole vault and will be looking to improve on that mark at the meet.
The men's and women's distance teams will travel to the west coast to compete at sea level and take on some of the best talent in the nation, including perennial distance powerhouses Stanford, Oregon and Washington.
"It will be nice to race at low altitude with a fast track and very good competition," BYU women's distance coach Patrick Shane said. "One of our main goals is to qualify our distance medley relay team for nationals. We only have this week or next week in New York to qualify."
The distance medley relay involves a 1200-meter, 400-meter, 800-meter and 1600-meter run. Last year, the women's relay team was one spot from going to nationals in the event.
BYU men's distance coach Ed Eyestone is looking forward to seeing his runners get personal bests and possibly get automatic and provisional times for nationals.
Kyle Perry has already set two national provisional marks, running the mile in 4:02.44 at the Big 12/MWC Conference Challenge and an altitude-adjusted time of 8:04.44 in the 3000 meters at the Cougar Indoor Invitational.
"Kyle is a man on a mission," Eyestone said. "He's on a mission to be one of only a few hundred Americans to ever break the elusive four-minute mile."
A schedule of events for the Air Force Invitational can be found at www.goairforcefalcons.cstv.com, and a schedule of events for the UW Invitational can be found at www.gohuskies.csty.com.