Men Seek Strong Showing at NCAA Championships

PROVO -- Seven members of the No. 5 men’s track team will be representing the Cougars at the 2011 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championship meet in College Station, Texas on Friday and Saturday.

"It is going to be fun, there is some phenomenal competition there and everyone is healthy," coach Mark Robison said. "We are excited with the prospects we have with a little luck we'll do very well."

Junior Miles Batty, the Mountain West Conference champion and current school record holder in the mile will be a legitimate contender to for a national championship. Batty broke a 31-year-old BYU record with a 3:55.79 mile time at the Husky Classic in Seattle, WA earlier this year.

In the 4,000-meter distance medley relay, the Cougars will feature senior Brian Weirich and juniors Chris Carter, Justin Hedin and Batty trying to best their NCAA third-ranked time of 9:29.13. The time broke the facility record in Albuquerque, N.M. at the MWC Championships.

BYU will send two pole vault athletes to nationals. Sophomore Victor Weirich has the second best mark in the country this year, clearing a height of 5.50m (18-00.50). Not far behind, senior Chris Little cleared 5.42m (17-09.25) to earn an invite as well.

Senior Leif Arrhenius will be a multi-event competitor for the Cougars. The All-American will compete in both the shot put and the weight throw after winning both events at the MWC Championships. This is the second-straight year he has competed in the weight throw at Nationals.

"I think all of our guys are capable of scoring," Robison said. "If they can all score some points that could be huge."

The NCAA Indoor Championships will begin on Friday at 9 a.m. MT and conclude Saturday night with an awards ceremony at approximately 6:50 p.m. MT.

ESPN2 will show a tape delay of the event on March 16 at 2:30 p.m. Eastern. ESPN3 will webstream the event on Friday, March 11 from 4-8:40 p.m. and Saturday, March 12 from 4-7:50 p.m. The remainder of the event will be streamed live on NCAA.com.

To follow live results CLICK HERE.

Athlete           Event         Start Time*
Miles Batty       Mile          3:15 p.m. Friday (Prelims) 
                                4:10 p.m. Saturday (Finals)
                  DMR           7:40 p.m. Friday
Victor Weirich    Pole vault    3:30 p.m. Friday
Chris Little      Pole vault    3:30 p.m. Friday
Brian Weirich     DMR           7:40 p.m. Friday
Chris Carter      DMR           7:40 p.m. Friday
Justin Hedin      DMR           7:40 p.m. Friday
Leif Arrhenius    Shot put      5:50 p.m. Friday (Trials and Finals)
                  Weight throw  4:00 p.m. Saturday (Trials and Finals)
*Mountain time