CEDAR CITY, Utah - April 1 - Southern Utah track and field prepares to split this weekend between three different meets: Stanford Invitational, San Francisco Distance Carnival, and Pomona Pitzer Invitational. The majority of the team will travel to Pomona and San Francisco while a select group of athletes qualified by time for the elite Stanford Invitational.
“The Stanford Invitational opens the door for great performances,” head coach, Eric Houle, said. “The invitational gives the athletes a chance to perform at a level that would hopefully get them to the national championships. Getting into the meet means you are one of the top athletes in the country.”
Stanford:
Nate Jewkes and Hayden Hawks will compete in their first 10,000-meter of the season. In 2013, Jewkes placed 11th in the NCAA National Championships in the 10,000-meters. Mike Tate, Istvan Szogi, and Eric Sandall will also race in distance events this weekend. Tate is slated to compete in the 1,500-meter run after placing first last week at the Riverside Invitational in the 800-meter run. Ashley Hawks will represent the woman's distance team by competing in the 5,000-meter run. Hawks comes off a first place finish in last week's 3,000-meter run and a second place finish in the 1,500-meter run at Riverside.
Freshman, Justin Lewis and Zach Morris, will represent the men's sprints team. Morris and Lewis are slated to compete in the 100-meter dash. Morris will also compete in the 200-meter dash. Mayra Franco, Jamila Pullum, and Haley Harris will compete for SUU in the women's sprinting events with Franco in the 100-meter dash and Harris and Pullum in the 400-meter dash. Pullum comes off a conference qualifying finish in the 400-meter dash last weekend at the Riverside Invitational.
San Francisco:
Six athletes will represent SUU at the San Francisco Distance Carnival. Angie Nickerson, Ashley Tyndall, Liam Kennell, and Matt Wright will compete in the 5,000-meter run. Jasmyn Hildebrandt will compete in her first 10,000-meter of the season after placing third last weekend in the 3,000-meter run. George Espino will also compete in the 800-meter.
Pomona-Pitzer:
The rest of the team will compete at the Pamona Pitzer Invitational. Athletes to look out for in the distance races include Aubrey Bryson and Paige Cardiff in the 800-meter run. Bryson placed second in last year's Big Sky Conference Championships in the 800-meter. Alex Anderson will compete in the 100-meter dash and the long jump. Anderson is the defending conference champion in the triple jump.
The Stanford Invitational will have a live streaming of the events on flotrack.org through the flopro account. The Stanford meet is scheduled to begin on Friday April 3 at 9am and continue on Saturday starting at 9am. The San Francisco Distance Carnival will begin on Friday starting at 8:30am. Pomona Pitzer will begin on Saturday starting at 10am.
