CEDAR CITY, Utah - March 18 - The Thunderbirds will open the outdoor track and field season in Las Vegas, Nev. at the UNLV Invitational. This will mark the seventh consecutive year the T-Birds open the outdoor season at UNLV. The men's squad comes back from a fourth place finish at the Big Sky Conference Indoor Championship. The UNLV Invitational will be take place on Friday and Saturday in Las Vegas, Nev.
“The goal for the first meet is just to get athletes into racing and competing,” head coach, Eric Houle, said. “This also gives some of our field event athletes a chance to compete since they don't get as many chances during the year to compete.”
Southern Utah posted twelve first place finishes in 2014. Ashley Hawks comes off a successful track season where she placed fourth in the mile and 3,000-meter. Last year at the UNLV meet, Hawks placed first in the 800-meter run and returns to race the 800-, 1500-, and 4x400-meter relay. Thrower, Russel Nielson, earned a first place finish in 2014 in the men's javelin throw and returns this season to compete in the discus, javelin, and 4x100-meter relay. Eric Sandall also placed first last year at UNLV in the 1500-meter. He comes off a third place finish at the Big Sky Conference Indoor Championships in the 800-meter.
Other athletes to keep an eye on this weekend on the men's side include: Mike Tate, Arnold Carrillo, Alex Anderson, Hayden Hawks, and Nate Jewkes. Tate ended the indoor season racing to a 4:00.07 mile placing third at the conference championships. Carrillo led the conference for most of the indoor season in the 400-meter dash with his time of 47.65 which ranks him second on the SUU all-time record list. Hayden Hawks and Nate Jewkes will both compete in the 1,500-meter run. Jewkes finished the indoor season with a second place finish in the 5,000-meter run while Hawks finished third in both the 5,000-meter and 3,000-meter at the indoor conference championships.
Athletes to watch out for on the women's side include: Jamila Pullum, Haley Harris, Aubrey Bryson, Myra Franco, and Paige Cardiff. Pullum concluded the indoor season with a fourth place finish in the 400-meter dash posting a second place all-time SUU record. Harris will compete in the 800-meter, 4x100-, and 4x400-meter relay. Bryson, after placing second last year in the outdoor conference championships in the 800-meter, will compete in the 400-meter dash and 4x400-meter relay.
“We use this meet to gear up for the outdoor season,” Houle continued. “We put the athletes in races that they don't always run in the regular season to work on speed or endurance.”
The meet is scheduled to begin on Friday, March 20 with the decathlon. The meet will continue on Saturday starting at 9 am with the women's shot put and women's 5,000-meter.
