April 2, 2009

LOGAN, Utah - Utah State men's and women's track and field teams will be split up and compete in two different meets Friday and Saturday, April 3-4. Some Aggies will head to Eugene, Ore. for the Pepsi Team Invitational hosted by Oregon on Saturday while the rest of the team will travel to Provo, Utah for the BYU Cougar Invitational Friday.

This weekend's action at Oregon will be USU's second outdoor meet of the season, after in action at the Arizona Willie Williams Classic two weeks ago, as well as the Aggies' first team scored meet of the outdoor season.

"The thing that excites me most about the meet in Oregon is that it's a team scored meet," veteran USU head coach Gregg Gensel said. "We usually don't do that this early in the season but I think its going to be good. The meet will be on TV so we will also get a little bit of coverage for the University and it will be a great competition."

The Aggies in Eugene will go head to head with Kansas State, Indiana and host Oregon. The meet will be televised by the Oregon Sports Network on the Comcast Sports Net from 2-4 p.m. (MT). The Pepsi Team Invitational will be held at the historic Hayward Field. Saturday's events will begin at 12:20 p.m. (MT) with the men's javelin and the final event of the day, the men's 4x400 relay, is scheduled to begin at 3:55 p.m. (MT).

"Our athletes are excited about competing at a historical place for track and field and this weekend will bring some solid competition too," Gensel said.

The Aggie that head to Provo on Friday will compete against teams from Southern Utah, Wyoming, Utah, Utah Valley, Weber State and host BYU.

The women will kick off Friday's events at BYU's Clarence F. Robison Track with the hammer throw at 11 a.m. MT. Men's and women's events are scheduled throughout the day, tentatively ending with the men's 4x4-meter relay at 5 p.m. MT.

In the Aggies first meet of the outdoor season, freshman Spela Hus (shot put), sophomores Clint Silcock (high jump) and Sonia Grabowska (pole vault) along with seniors Nick Karren (400m hurdles) and Krista Larson (hammer throw) all set regional qualifying marks.

The Aggies will continue action Friday and Saturday, April 9-10 in another split weekend with half the team at the UCLA Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner Invitation and the other half of the team at the Weber State Invitational.

-USU-