(Feb. 13, 2010) - The BYU men's track and field team shine in both Colorado and Washington with its best weekend of the season and last meets before the MWC Championships in two weeks.

"This weekend was everything were hoping for," said BYU head coach Mark Robison. "This was our best meet of the season by far."

Despite competing at the Air Force Invitational with only 16 athletes, the Cougars finished with highest team score at 89 points, right ahead of fellow MWC foes Colorado State and Air Force.

The Cougars' 4x440 team took first place, with Kevin Ahlstrom, Rhyan Atrice, Kevin Biesinger and Bryan Payne combining for the win.

Rob Skidmore, Ahlstrom and Biesinger finished 2-3-6 in the 400-meters while Trevor Heiner, Michael McConkie and Phillip Bettis went 2-3-6 in the high jump.

"Each week we hope to get better and better and wow did we do a lot of that today," Robison said. "We did phenomenal."

Competing in the long jump, five Cougars finished in the top 20, led by Aaron Powell in fourth with a lifetime-best jump of 7.34 meters. Anse Myller DeAraujo and Kyle Mills also set new personal bests, finishing fifth and fourteenth, respectively. Bettis came in at fifteenth and Jonathan Furguson placed seventeenth.

Bettis also finished second in the 60-meter hurdles

In Washington, the distance runners and throwers also set new marks. Daniel Lawson placed first in the shot put with a throw of 18.19 meters, a provisional qualifier and a lifetime best.

Oliver Whaley set his own personal record in the weight throw, going 19.78 meters.

Nathan Ogden and Jon Kotter flew to the top of the MWC standings in the 5,000-meter run, both provisionally qualifying with times of 14:02.21 and 14:09.08, respectively, with Kotter's mark 25 seconds better than the conference's current third place.

Reagan Frey and Alden Bahr showed improved marks in the 3,000-meter run while Josh Adams and Lance Walker competed in the one-mile race.

PROVO -- The BYU men’s women’s track and field teams will hit the road this weekend, sending part of the team to Seattle for the Husky Invitational and another portion to Colorado Springs for the Air Force Invitational.

“The meet in Colorado will serve as a conference preview for us,” women’s head coach Craig Poole said. “All of the conference teams will be there, with the exception of TCU and San Diego State. There will also be some talent from outside the MWC, and that will allow us to compete and get some good marks before conference.”

This weekend of meets marks the last competition BYU will face before the MWC Indoor Championships on February 25-27 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The women’s team enters this weekend with a No. 2 national ranking, and will look to improve its national standing before the conference season.

“We will send mostly distance runners up to Washington, but there will be some other athletes up there too,” Poole said. “Our goal from that meet is to put up as many national qualifying marks as possible. We would like some national marks in Colorado too, but its our main focus in Washington.”

The Air Force Invitational will begin at 1:00 p.m. MST on Friday with the men’s weight throw, and is scheduled to conclude on Saturday at 4:05 p.m. MST with the men’s 4x400-meter relay. The Husky Invitational will start at 5:00 p.m. MST with the women’s distance medley relay and will finish at 4:55 p.m. MST with the men’s 4x400-meter relay.

Results for both meets can be found at www.tfrrs.org at the conclusion of the meets on Saturday night.