The distance team raced at the Oxy Distance Carnival, where Nate Jewkes returned to competition after redshirting during the indoor season. Jewkes led the T-Birds at Oxy with a second-place finish in the 5,000-meters, recording a conference-qualifying time of 14:11.97. Ryan Barrus followed right on Jewkes' heels with a second-place time of 14:12.65, also qualifying for the conference championship. Barrus' time also ranks fifth in Southern Utah's records for the event.

Jon Lee also raced to a Big Sky-qualifying mark at Occidental, recording an eighth-place time of 1:53.84 in the 800-meter run. John Hart led the SUU men in the steeplechase with a time of 9:21.20, finishing in eighth place and ranking ninth in the school records.

Kaylee Coates led the women at Oxy with a second-place individual finish in the 800-meter run. Coates now ranks first in the Big Sky with a qualifying time of 2:13.79. She was followed by Danielle Jewkes, who also returned from a redshirt season to finish sixth in the 800-meters with a time of 2:15.91. Kirsten Bradford led the women in the 1,500-meter run, finishing eighth with a conference-qualifying time 4:35.87. Jamie Smith followed in ninth place with 4:36.21 finish.

While the distance runners competed in Los Angeles, the rest of the team traveled to San Diego State's Aztec Invitational where the sprinters led in conference qualifying times. Preston Myers won the 200-meter dash with a qualifying time of 21.32, while Arnold Carrillo also qualified for the conference championship with a seventh-place time of 21.94. Both sprinters also raced on the 4x400-meter relay team, along with Julian Robinson and Dallin Tavoian. The team finished second overall with a top-ten SUU time of 3:15.70.

Hurdler Kodai Kusano represented the T-Birds in the 110-meter hurdles, finishing fourth with a qualifying time of 14.67. Kusano also raced to a 100-meter dash time of 11.56 at San Diego State.

Mayra Franco led the women in the sprints with a 200-meter dash time of 24.94, finishing 18th in the event and ranking 10th in Southern Utah's record books.

The multi athletes also made their outdoor debut at San Diego State, as Stephen Wilson placed fourth in the men's decathlon with a personal best score of 5736. Cheyenne Thatcher represented the women in the heptathlon with a seventh-place finish and a Big Sky-qualifying score of 4285.

SUU Track and Field will be back in action in two weeks when the distance squad travels to the San Francisco State Distance Carnival in San Francisco, Calif. on Mar. 29. The sprinters, jumpers and throwers will next compete at the UCLA Invitational in Los Angeles, Calif., set for Apr. 5-6.