PROVO, Utah – BYU track and field will host the BYU Indoor Collegiate Invitational at the Smith Fieldhouse this weekend. Events will begin Thursday, Jan. 11, and finish on Saturday, Jan. 13.
This will be the first meet of 2018 and the second meet of the indoor track and field season for the Cougars. BYU coach Ed Eyestone is eager for another opportunity to see the various event groups in action after the winter break.
“It’s going to be a nice opportunity for athletes to get back into action and start making progress towards making it to the NCAA Indoor Championships,” Eyestone said. “We’re very excited because this meet is another opportunity to establish a baseline. It will go a long way in establishing who is going to be traveling for the rest of the season so there is plenty of motivation for everyone.”
Eyestone looks forward to seeing junior Brian Matthews and senior Kevin Nielsen compete in the men’s heptathlon after strong performances during the 2017 indoor season. Matthews had a personal best score of 4922 in the heptathlon at the 2017 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Indoor Championships. Nielsen competed in the 2017 NCAA Indoor Championships after setting a BYU record score of 5728 in the heptathlon at the MPSF Indoor Championships.
Sophomore Lindsay Yetter Shirley is another athlete that Eyestone expects to continue to flourish. Shirley started off the 2018 season with a career-best score of 3533 in the pentathlon at the BYU December Invitational.
At that same meet, senior Marcus Dickson had his personal best in the mile with a time of 4:09.06. Coach Eyestone anticipates that Dickson will run the mile under 4:05 by the end of the season.
Eyestone said that they’re looking forward to another opportunity to see junior Dennis Christensen in the shot put. Christensen recently broke his personal record with a 17.87m mark and a first-place finish at the 2017 Weber State Winter Open in December.
Senior Laura Young Bluth and sophomore Whittni Orton are two women’s distance runners to watch in their 2018 debut. Bluth and Orton both competed in the 2017 MPSF Indoor Championships and will compete this weekend in the 3000m and 800m respectively.
For a full schedule of events at the BYU Indoor Invite click here. Follow BYU track and field on twitter @BYUTFXC to keep up on the action, or click here for more live stats.