DES MOINES -- Cold temperatures and wind slowed the field at the Drake Relays but three Cougars overcame those conditions to finish high in a meet featuring many of the top individuals in the nation.

The No. 9 BYU women had two second-place finishes at Drake, led by All-American Holly Haguewood in the 800. Haguewoodfinishedsecondin 2:09.87.

The other top finish for the Cougar women came from freshman phenom Lindsay Johnson in the javelin. Johnson had a mark of 166-11.00 (50.87) to finish just behind another freshman, Kendra Wecker of Kansas State, who won with a throw of 169-07.00 (51.68).

For the No. 23 BYU men, Aron Szmuda jumped 24-08.25 (7.52) in the long jump to finish second behind Randy Lewis of Wichita State. Lewis had a mark of 25-05.25 (7.75) for the victory.

The Cougar men also sent athletes to Pocatello, Idaho to compete in the ISU Springfest, where the team claimed three event crowns.

The top mark of the meet for BYU came in the high jump, where Ammon Dahl cleared a career-best height of 6-10.00 (2.08) to win. Daniel Arrhenius won the discus with a toss of 168-06.00 (51.36) and Eric Myrup won the 110-meter hurdles in 14.82 seconds to round out the Cougar winners at Pocatello.

Other solid performances at ISU came from Robert Mugagga, who finished second in the 100-meter dash (10.88), and Jeremy Stowell, who was third in the 400 (48.79).

For complete results from the Drake Relays, go to http://Drakerelays.com/. 

PROVO -- The BYU men's and women's track and field teams are set to face some of the top competition in the nation this week at the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa.

The meet has 33 individuals who are current or former NCAA champions scheduled to compete, including 16 champions from the 2002 NCAA Indoor Championships.

The BYU women, ranked No. 9 in the current Trackwire rankings, hope to add to their 12 NCAA qualifying marks so far this season. The women will leave the majority of their distance squad home as the team prepares for the Stanford Invitational and Robison Invitational next week.

The Cougar men's team, ranked 23rd by Trackwire, look to best their last performance at UCLA, which saw the men earn five qualifying marks and push their season total to five.

For more information and a complete schedule of events for the Drake Relays, go to www.drakerelays.org

The BYU men's team will also send several athletes to Pocatello, Idaho, to compete in the ISU Springfest this weekend. Other teams scheduled to compete at ISU include Southern Utah, Weber State, Utah, Montana State, Treasure Valley, UVSC and Ricks College.

For more information and a schedule of events for the ISU Springfest, go to www.isu.edu/athletic