The BYU men's and women's track and field teams open the 2005 indoor season Thursday and Friday at the Smith Fieldhouse against Utah Valley State, Utah State, Portland State and Utah.
"We're excited to go this week," BYU women's head coach Craig Poole said. "It will be a simple meet, but a good icebreaker for our team."
Men's head coach Mark Robison echoes the sentiments of Poole. Robison said the meet will give the team and coaches a chance to see how good it is.
"The Invitational will help us know what we need to do to get where we want to go," Robison said. "It will be nice to compete against someone else besides our own team."
Poole said the women's team will be strong in the jump events, especially Lindsey Metcalf and Amy Menlove. Poole said both women have looked very sharp in training.
Metcalf, a senior from Orem, is an All-American in the high jump. In 2004, Metcalf won the high jump at the 2004 Mountain West Conference Indoor Championships and placed second at the conference outdoor championships. She also placed fifth at the NCAA Indoor Championships. She jumped a personal best 6'00.5" at last year's NCAA Outdoor Championship.
Menlove was named MWC Female Freshman of the Year after winning the long jump at the 2004 MWC Outdoor Championship and placing eleventh at the NCAA Championship.
Poole said the team is extremely young this year and this first meet should be a good test for it, allowing the coaches to check the athletes' progress and select those who will travel.
Robison said he is excited about most of the events in which the men's team will compete, but he is especially excited about the 800 meters.
All-American Nathan Robison will run in the event, which is much shorter than his strongest event, the 1,500 meters. Robison will be pushed in the event by his teammates Jason Dorais and Lars Kjerengtroen.
Kjerengtroen placed fourth in the 800m at the conference championship last year and is looking to improve his times this year. Dorais set a personal best 1:54.18 in the 800m in limited action last year and is expected to contribute more to the team this year.
Robison said the Arrhenius brothers should be strong in the throwing events, with Trent Powell (pole vault), David Pendergrass (high jump), David Chesser (400m) and Jacob Garlick (60m hurdles) anchoring the Cougars' in the other events of the meet.
The Cougar Invitational will start Thursday at 1:30 p.m. with the women's pentathlon and the men's heptathlon. Thursday's action will conclude with the men's and women's throw events.
The men's heptathlon will resume Friday beginning at 10 a.m. followed by the jump events, including pole vault. The running events begin at 1 p.m. and continue until 5:30 p.m. A comprehensive schedule of the meet can be found at www.byutrack.com
The meet is open to the public and is free of charge.