PROVO, Utah (May 2) - A sprinters' showdown between BYU's Kenneth Andam and Washington's Ja'Warren Hooker highlights Saturday's USTCA Tri-Meet in Provo, the second of three Cougar home meets on the season. The action is scheduled for an 11 a.m. start and 2 p.m. finish Saturday, with admission free to the public.
BYU, ranked No. 12 in the latest Power rankings, faces a Washington squad ranked No. 6 in the nation, while a tough Utah State team returns to Provo after competing in the Robison Invitational two weeks ago. Hooker, who left the Huskies' football team to train for the Olympics, enters Saturday's meet as an NCAA automatic qualifier in the 100- and 200 meters. Although his times, a wind-aided 10.18 and a 20.33, are slightly better than Andam's (10.22 and 20.93), a steadily improving Andam should make things interesting.
The shot put competition will feature another All-American field, with BYU's No. 10 Jim Roberts taking on Washington's Ben Lindsey, who is ranked No. 8 in both the shot and discus. Utah State brings the nation's third-ranked hammer thrower in James Parker.
"We should be in great shape," said men's coach Willard Hirschi. "We're ready to continue the improvements we had last week. We set a lot of personal bests then, and if the weather is good, I expect the same should happen this week."
BYU's women enter the weekend ranked No. 5 in the country, while the Washington women are at No. 19. Senior Kirsten Bolm, a two-time Mountain West Conference athlete of the week, continues her busy competitive schedule this weekend, as she looks to improve on her No. 4 ranking in th e long jump and her No. 8 ranking in the 100-meter hurdles. Three NCAA qualifiers will face off in the pole vault competition, as Utah State's third-ranked Shae Bair takes on Washington's No. 11 Sandy Erickson and BYU All-American Becky Jackson, at No. 33.
"It's getting down to the time when we're trying to put it all together," said women's coach Craig Poole. "We're approaching what we thought we were capable of doing, and by the conference meet in a couple of weeks, we should be able to show our true power."
In addition to the tri-meet, a handful of BYU distance runners will also compete in the Stanford Invitational May 5 in Palo Alto, Calif.