Women’s track competes in Air Force and Washington Invites

PROVO, Utah –The BYU women’s track and field team sends portions of its team to two different areas of the country this weekend for the Air Force Team Challenge and Washington Invitational.

The distance runners will compete in Seattle, Wash., Jan. 25-26, and the rest of the team will compete in Colorado Springs, Colo., Jan. 24-26.

“Colorado Springs is at a very high altitude, which is not ideal for distance runners,” head coach Patrick Shane said. “Our distance runners, as well as many of the top distance runners in the country, will be in Seattle competing. Colorado Springs is, however, great for our power events. The altitude helps their performance.”

The Air Force Invitational begins Thursday evening with the pentathlon in which Elizabeth Wilson will compete for the first time this season. The past two meets Wilson has competed in the long jump (5.42m), triple jump (11.97m), high jump (1.58m) and shot put (11.80m) as single events in order to prepare herself for this weekend.

The throwers will compete in their first away meet this weekend at the Air Force Invitational. Brianna French and Deezbaa Whaley led the Cougars during the BYU Invitational in the shot put and weight throw. French finished sixth in the shot put with a throw of 12.42m (40-09.00), and Whaley finished second in the weight throw with a mark of 17.96m (58-11.00).

The Washington Invitational begins Friday evening with the distance medley relay (DMR) and the 5,000 meters in BYU’s first go at these events this season. The DMR team will consists of Natalie Stewart in the 400, Ashleigh Warner in the 800, Kelsey Brown in the 1200, and Candace Eddy Carlisle in the mile.

Kathryn Vidmar, Sarah Darby and Nicole Nielsen are set to compete in the 5,000.

Last week at the Cherry & Silver Invitational Rachel Fisher finished first in the pole vault with a vault of 4.10m, her best jump in over a year.

BYU’s top 4x400 relay team, consisting of Angela Shields, Kaylee Packham, Natalie Stewart and Nicole Rudd, finished third with a time of 3:49.94.

Results for the Air Force Invitational can be found at DirectAthletics.com.

Results for the Washington Invitational can be found at GoHuskies.com.

Live video for the Washington Invitational can be viewed on the Pac-12 Network.