Cougars to compete at Air Force Invitational

PROVO, Utah – BYU track and field will travel to compete at the Air Force Invitational at the Cadet Field House on Thursday, Jan. 16. Events will continue through Saturday, Jan. 18.

“The coaches will be taking a very talented group to Colorado,” BYU head coach Ed Eyestone said. “Some of the same people who did very well last weekend will be competing against even stronger competition in the Air Force Invitational. They’ll be in a bigger field and we’ll see what they can do.”

The men's heptathlon and the women's pentathlon will begin on Thursday, Jan. 16. The rest of the team will compete on Friday and Saturday. 

The Cougars are set to compete against the men’s and women’s teams from Air Force, Colorado, Colorado State, Northern Colorado, UCCS and Wyoming. This marks the 10th-straight year BYU has competed at the U.S. Air Force Academy during the indoor track and field season. In the past, the Air Force Academy has hosted a scored team challenge. In the 2019 season, the men’s team took first place with 163 points while the women’s team finished in second with 111 points. This year the meet is an invitational. 

Eyestone is looking forward to seeing the pole vault event group compete, including Zach McWhorter and Elise Romney. Last week at the BYU Indoor Invite, McWhorter made his collegiate career with a first-place jump of 5.52m/18-1.25 in the pole vault for the No. 4 all-time mark in BYU history. McWhorter is currently ranked second in the NCAA for his mark. Romney took first in the women’s pole vault last weekend and is No. 5 on the BYU indoor record board for her personal-best mark of 4.17m/13-8.25 from the 2019 season. 

Sierra Freeland will also be competing in the Air Force Invitational and will bring a competitive showing for the BYU throws team. At the BYU Indoor Invite, Freeland won the women’s shot put with a career-best toss of 15.28m/50-0.50. This placed Freeland at the No. 7 spot on the school record board. 

Eyestone hopes to see another strong performance from Jaslyn Gardner following her record-breaking run in the 60m dash at the BYU Indoor Invite. Gardner placed first and broke the school record with a time of 7.39. 

Eyestone is excited to see Michael Bluth race in the men’s 60m and 200m. As another Cougar force in the short sprints, Clark Brown will compete in the men’s 60m. A week ago, Brown clocked a career-best time of 6.73 for the 10th-fastest 60m in school history.

Follow BYU track and field on Twitter and Instagram @BYUTFXC for team updates. Live results can be found on the BYU track and field schedule page on the day of the meet. The schedule of events and meet information can be found on goairforcefalcons.com.