AUSTIN -- Competing against the nations best, 21 BYU athletes showed their strength with most individuals earning regional qualifying marks at the 2004 Texas Relays in Austin during the four day competition.

Shining for BYU in the throws was the tag-team Arrhenius brothers, Nik and Dan. Both competed in the shot where senior Dan won his flight with a throw of 57-00.25 (17.38m) earning regional marks and younger brother Nik placed fifth in his heat with a throw of 58-01.25 (17.71m) also earning regional qualifying marks. Both brothers then went on to compete in the discus making the final round where Nik placed fourth overall earning regional marks with a throw of 190-00 (57.91m).

Representing BYU the men's middle distance team and hurdle squad outlasted the Texas rain and humidity to place fifth in the 4x800 relay with a time of 7:34.51 and seventh in the 4x400m relay finals after finishing 3:10.44 initially to advance to finals where the squad of Matt Rowe, Dave Chesser, Paul Smith and Greg Flint improved to 3:08.20 earning regional marks.

Those same men also placed individually on the track. One standout for the Cougars was sophomore Ben Gardner who placed second in his heat in the 400m-hurdles with a time of 52.62 to advance to finals where he ran 53.00 to come in eighth overall.

Decathletes, Curtis Puglsey and Devin Scoresby, facing several national champions endured the several day competition to place ninth and twelfth respectively. Pugsley's point total of 7044 points earns him a provisional mark in to the NCAA competition later in June.

Lastly, on the men's side the pole vaulters, Trent Powell and Robison Pratt, gave tough competition to the event where they both placed sixth after clearing the height of 17-04.50 (5.30m) earning regional qualifying marks.

On the women's side the small group competing for BYU represented well as they earned several regional marks including Lindsey Metcalf's fourth place finish in the high jump after clearing 5-08.00 (1.73m) and Kamila Rywelska's triple jump performance going the distance of 41-10.50 (12.76m) to place seventh in her flight.

Not only did women earn regional marks but also NCAA provisional marks. In the heptathlon, Liis Berdensen scored enough points, 5054 to be exact, to be qualified for NCAA competition after finishing sixth overall against the nations toughest women.

After returning to Provo the Cougars will head back down south again this weekend as they compete in the Sun Angels Invitational hosted by Arizona State University.

Complete results of the Cougars performances in Texas can be found on www.texassports.com.

PROVO -- Twenty-one BYU track and field athletes are heading to one of the largest and most widely acclaimed track meets this weekend at the Texas Relays in Austin.

The competition begins Wednesday and Thursday with the men's decathlon and continues Friday and Saturday with the field and running events.

"At this meet our athletes have the opportunity to compete with the best kids in the nation," women's head coach Mark Robison said.

Essentially, this meet is the closest BYU athletes will get to top national competition before the National Championships return to the same site in Austin for the 2004 NCAA National Championships in June.

"We are excited for a couple of reasons," men's head coach Mark Robison said. "First, we don't get to do very many decathlons and so this is a good opportunity for us. Hopefully our men will earn qualifying marks. Second, this is great competition and third it is the site of the NCAA competition in June."

BYU will be sending Jennifer Rockwell-Grossarth, Annalee Walcott, Mariam Fisher, Lindsey Metcalf, Amy Menlove, Kamila Rywelska and Liis Berendsen on the women's side.

The men will be taking a much larger squad entering several relays in the meet including the 4x400m, 4x800m and the 4000m DMR.

"We are going to be taking a 4x800m team," men's distance coach Ed Eyestone said. "We think we can go for the title with a tough 800 squad. Hopefully we can bring back the trophy."

The men will face tough competition for LSU, the Indoor NCAA Champions, University of Arkansas and University of Kentucky.

Also competing on the men's side will be the Arrhenius brothers, hurdlers Ben Gardner and Greg Flint, jumper Rodrigo Mendes in his first outdoor competition, vaulters Trent Powell and Robison Pratt and decathletes Devin Scoresbee and All-American Curtis Pugsley.

All the athletes are looking to improve on their best marks and qualify for regionals or NCAA competition.

"The competition will be windy so it will be great for us to experience that," Robison said. "The oval race are not as fast, but otherwise it will be faster than lightening."