ALBUQUERQUE -- The Cherry and Silver Invitational proved once again to be a meet of great success for the Cougars, with three athletes accomplishing a combined four provisional qualifying marks, and with several others achieving personal best times.

“This was a very good meet for us, and we achieved some great marks,” head coach Craig Poole said. “Today was highlighted especially by Mindy McClurkin, the Stewart sisters and Kari Clark, but everyone did very well.”

Nachelle Stewart showed her ability in the 800-meters, placing second in the event with a personal best and provisional qualifying time of 2:06.63. Her sister Natalie also ran a great race in the 400-meters, placing second with a time of 54.72.

Competing for the first time since the BYU Indoor Invitational on January 9, McClurkin came out strong, running personal best times in the 60-meters and 200-meters, while also provisionally qualifying in the 200-meters (23.77) and the long jump (20-09.75).

“Today really went a lot better than I perceived it would,” McClurkin said. “I had great runs in the 60 and the 200, breaking my indoor personal records. Overall I would say I am really happy, and today was a really fun day.”

Carrying the momentum from the last week’s meet Clark reached a provisional qualifying mark in the pole vault, placing second with a vault of 4.00m (13-01.50). This week marked the second consecutive week Clark has vaulted over thirteen feet.

Junior Porshe Giddings contributed to the Cougars success as well, running a season best 24.94 to place fourth in the 200-meter dash. Senior Sarah Frey also continued to improve, placing second in the 3000-meter run in 10:29.87.

The Cougars also placed well in the high jump, with Ada Robinson (5-08.00) and Diana Blauer (5-06.00) placed third and fifth respectively.

The weight throw proved a success for the throwers, with two athletes placing in the top three. Junior Tipaleli Fotu took second in the event, with a throw of 17.44m (57-02.75. Senior Deezbaa Whaley followed close behind, finishing in third with a distance of 17.12m (56-02.00).

“We are fast moving to where we want to be,” Poole said. “Ada and Diana both jumped well, and our throwers put up some really great marks.”

The Cougars will continue their season next weekend, as the team will send one group of athletes to Seattle, Washington for the Washington Invitational, and another group of athletes to Boise, Idaho for the Boise Invitational.

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.