BYU men travel to UCLA

PROVO, Utah—BYU men’s track hopes to qualify more athletes for the upcoming regional meet as the teams travels to Los Angeles this weekend to compete in the Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational hosted by UCLA.

“There should be a lot of good competition this weekend,” head coach Ed Eyestone said. “It’s a great opportunity for our sprinters, jumpers and throwers to make an impact. The biggest goal is to qualify for regionals.”

To qualify for the regional meet, athletes have to finish in the top-48 in their event in the region. The Cougars currently have 17 athletes with times and marks that would have put them in last year’s top-48 in their respective events, a good indicator for where they sit in the current qualifications.

Dakoda John and Zachary Blackham lead BYU in the high jump, as Sam Rockwood is looking to post a regional qualifying mark. Zachary Stetler and Kyle Baker anchor a strong group of throwers, as both have posted qualifying marks. Craig Merkley and Aaron Clark hope to follow suit this weekend. 

Coming off a season-best performance at the Stanford Invitational, Mark Carlson will lead the BYU sprinters into a very competitive environment. Fellow competitors UCLA and TCU both have rich sprinting traditions. Korey Smith and Sean Adams are other key contributors for the Cougars.

Live results for the meet can be found through the event page on BYUCougars.com.