Track athletes to compete in Palo Alto and Austin

PROVO, Utah – The BYU track and field team travels to Texas and California this weekend to compete in the Texas Relays and Stanford Invitational.

Athletes competing in multi-events, sprints, throws and the pole vault will be traveling to Austin, Texas, for the Texas Relays. Kevin Nielsen and Jackson Walker are currently in Texas right now beginning the decathlon and the rest of the team will join them in the next couple of days. The decathlon results can be followed here.

"The Texas Relays are one of the bigger meets of the year, especially for our sprinters, throwers and vaulters,” said BYU head coach Ed Eyestone. “All of our throwers are down there and we will be looking for good marks from them. There’s a lot of action between Texas and Palo Alto but hopefully, we will get some good marks in this week.”

Other athletes competing in the Texas Relays include Zach Stetler who will be throwing the shot put and discus. Stetler placed first in the shot put and second in the discus last weekend at the Aztec Invitational.

Tatenda Tsumba will be running the men’s 100-meter dash as well as running with the 4x100 meter relay team. Eyestone said they hope to get the relay team to qualify for the regional meet.

Sophomore Brenna Porter will be running the women’s 400-meter hurdles. This will be Porter’s debut in the outdoor season coming off a strong indoor season after competing with the women’s DMR team at the NCAA Track and Field Championships.

Mid-distance and distance runners will be kicking off their outdoor season at the Stanford Invitational.

“Between our middle distance and distance women, I’m sure we are going to have some very nice performances and it’s the same thing on the men’s side,” Eyestone said.

Shea Collinsworth and Erica Birk will be running in the 1500-meter race. Collinsworth last competed in the 1500-meter race in 2015 with a time of 4:27.16. Birk’s college personal best in the 1500-meter race is 4:26.31. Eyestone said they are expecting big things from them.

Courtney Wayment will be racing in the women’s 3000-meter steeplechase. She currently holds the No. 2 spot in the nation with a time of 10:13.39.

On the men’s side, Clayton Young and Jonathan Harper will be both be competing in the 10,000-meter run.

Eyestone said they are also looking forward to Spencer Hanson’s performance in the 5,000-meter run since he is coming off of a recent injury. Brayden McLeland will also be competing alongside Hansen in the 5,000-meter run. 

To follow the live results at the Texas Relays, click here. The Stanford Invitational will begin Friday, March 31, at 9 a.m. and conclude on Saturday, April 1 at 6 p.m. Live results for the Stanford Invitational can be found here. 

Follow the official BYU Track and Field/Cross Country Twitter account for more live results, @BYUTFXC.