Cougars Prep for Albuquerque

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PROVO -- The BYU track teams will head south this weekend to compete at the Albuquerque Convention Center in the annual New Mexico Cherry and Silver Invitational.

The one-day meet will commence early on Saturday morning, and will feature three top 25 men’s teams in No. 16 Stanford, No. 20 California and No. 23 New Mexico, while the top-25 women’s team will be No. 5 BYU. Other teams competing in Invitational include Adams State, Arizona, Cal State Stanislaus (women only), Houston, New Mexico State (women only) and San Francisco State (women only).

“This is a big meet, and our athletes are ready to do some really good things,” women’s coach Craig Poole said. “We have a strong line up to take down to Albuquerque, and some really good marks could be achieved on Saturday. There is a lot to be accomplished this weekend.”

The meet will provide the best competition either BYU has seen so far this season. It also marks the first time senior Mindy McClurkin and junior Leif Arrhenius will compete since being named MWC Athletes of the Week after the BYU Indoor Invitational.

“It will be incredibly competitive and really important competition,” said men’s coach Mark Robison. “We’ve got some kids competing for the first time this weekend. I’m really excited about it giving us a better idea of who we really are.”

The Invitational is scheduled to begin at 9:00 a.m. MST with the women’s long jump and men’s 60-meter hurdles preliminary, and will conclude at 3:30 p.m. MST with the women’s 4x400-meter relay.

Results will be posted at GoLobos.com as soon as possible at the end of competition.