Cougars send 10 athletes to final meets before conference championships

PROVO, Utah – BYU track and field will send nine athletes to compete at the Alex Wilson Invitational in Notre Dame, Indiana, on Saturday, Feb. 16 and one athlete to compete at the Last Chance Elite Meet in Seattle, Washington, on Friday, Feb. 15. These will be the last meets of the regular indoor track season for the Cougars before conference championships.

“The Alex Wilson Invitational is an opportunity for the men’s distance medley relay team to earn a qualifying time for the national championship,” BYU head coach Ed Eyestone said. “We’re bringing a strong middle distance crew along with Michael Bluth to put together the best DMR that we can. Hopefully we’ll come home with a ticket to Nationals.”

Eyestone anticipates a strong performance from the DMR team. In order to qualify for NCAA Indoor Championships, they DMR team must rank in the top-12. Talem Franco will start the relay off in the 1200m leg and will hand off the baton to Michael Bluth for the 400m leg. Following Bluth, Patrick Parker will receive the baton for the 800m leg and Matt Owens will run anchor to round out the race.

Previously this season at the Iowa State Classic, Franco clocked a 4:01.16 mile for the eighth-fastest time in BYU history. Bluth also earned a spot on the school record boards after running the No. 4 BYU all-time in the men’s 400m (46.94) at the Texas Tech Shootout.

Eyestone noted that five other athletes will have the chance to improve their positions and standings in the MPSF rankings at the Alex Wilson Invitational.

In addition to the athletes racing in Notre Dame, Whittni Orton will travel to the Last Chance Elite Meet to compete in the mile in an attempt to solidify a NCAA-qualifying mark. In the 2018 indoor season, Orton finished seventh overall in the mile with a time of 4:35.44 at the NCAA Indoor Championships.

Follow @BYUTFXC on Twitter for team updates from the meets. Live results can be found on the BYU track and field schedule page on the days of the meets. The schedule of events and meet information can be found on und.com and gohuskies.com.