Women Look to Defend Title and Men Look to Reclaim

PROVO -- BYU men's and women's track and field teams will compete at the Mountain West Conference Championships this weekend in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The women will be defending their indoor conference title, having finished first in their conference every year since the 1994-95 season. Several BYU athletes enter the conference championships with the top conference marks this season.

Aneta Lemiesz leads all times in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:08.6. Jamie Cottle has the best time of 4:43.67 in the mile. BYU dominates the 3,000 and 5,000-meter run, with the top six conference times in the 3,000-meter run and the top five conference times in the 5,000-meter run. Katie Martin has the best 3,000-meter time (9:32.01), and Lindsey Thomsen has the best 5,000-meter time (16:16.37). Also seeded at the top of the conference, are Candace Clifford in the high jump, Lindsey Sommer in the triple jump and the 4x400-meter relay team.

The men's team, which has won13 out of the last 15 conference titles, will look to better last year's second-place finish.

"Everybody that was there last year knows that there is a lot of unfinished business," said men's head coach Mark Robison. "We're going in to take back what we lost."

The men are seeded first in 10 of the 17 events. Cody Fonnesbeck and Paul Smith have the top times in the 60-meter dash and the 200-meter dash, respectively. David Chesser leads the conference in the 400-meter run with a time of 47.92, and Scott Adams leads in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:49.11. Sophomore Nathan Robison has the best times in the mile (3:59.70), and Kip Kangogo has the best time in the 3,000-meter run (7:59.36). BYU also holds the best conference mark in the pole vault at 17-04.75, set by Trent Powell and Erik Rasmussen. In the shot put, Dan Arrhenius has the best conference throw this season with a distance of 56-06.75.

Robison added, "There are great teams in the conference. No one is going to give it to us, and that is the way we want it."

Competition starts Thursday with the pentathlon and continues through Saturday afternoon. The awards ceremony will take place Saturday at 4 p.m.