BOULDER, Colo.  With three meets left before the 2022 RMAC Outdoor Championships, Western Colorado will look to earn more NCAA provisional qualifying marks, as they head to Boulder, Colo., to compete in the CU Invitational on Friday and Saturday (April 8-9).

Currently, the Mountaineers have five provisional qualifying marks.

• The men's team will be sending a strong group to the CU Invitational. However, there are six athletes - Christian Byrtus, Josh Hamilton, Tyler Nelson, Jacob Stroup, Malcom Wesley and Kyle Yonker – that one will want to make sure they keep a close eye on.
• Byrtus will compete in the 400m hurdle after recording his best mark of the season (55.78 seconds) last weekend at the Maverick Invite. Stroup will also be competing in the 400m H, his best time being 59.55.
• That won't be the only event Stroup will be competing in, as he will also compete in the 100m and 100m H. In the 100m H, Stroup has the best mark so far this season of 15.13.
• The final runner to keep an eye out for is Hamilton, who will toe the line in the 200m and 400m. Hamilton has the third best time in the 200m (22.45) and the best time in the 400m 49.12 – which he earned last weekend.
• Yonker leads the charge for field athletes to look out for, having a NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 5.05m (16-feet, 6.75-inches) in the pole vault. That mark is third best in the RMAC.
• Indoor All-American Wesley, will be competing in the long and triple jump at the CU Invitational. His best event being the long jump, which he has the best mark on the team of 7.19m (23-07.25).
• Rounding things out for the men is Tyler Nelson, who will be competing in the discus, hammer and javelin. Nelson has been a bright spot for the Mountaineers in the discus (45.65m, 149-09) and hammer (48.88m, 160-04), having the best marks in both events. In the javelin, Nelson has the second-best mark of 47.45m, 155-08.
• For the women, they will have nine athletes to look out for – three of which will be competing in the pole vault. Choying O'Brien leads the pack for the pole vaulters, having the lone NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 3.85m (12-07.50). Lauren Smith has the next best mark (3.65m, 11-11.75), followed by Laura Brignoli (3.40m, 11-01.75).
• There are three other field athletes to look out for – Sammie Bretz, Eireann Donohoe, and Amber Gustason.
• Coming off last weekend where Bretz moved to ninth all-time in the high jump with a mark of 1.65m, (5-05), she will look to improve that mark this weekend and earn a provisional qualifying mark (1.68m).
• Similar to Bretz, Donohoe also earned a top-10 mark in the triple jump by leaping to a mark of 11.66m (38-03.75) – which is fifth all-time. Donohoe will also be competing in the long jump, entering with a season best mark of 5.35m (17-06.75). Her weekend won't be done there, as Donohoe will also represent Western in the 100m H.
• The final field athlete to watch this weekend is Gustason, who will be competing in the hammer and discus. Gustason had a solid outing the last time she competed in these events, earing a sixth-place finish (44.48m, 145-11) in the hammer and ninth-place finish (33.19m, 108-11) in the discus. 
• The trio of Amaya Booker, Mackenzie Burt, and Myia Dantzler will be flying around the track in the 200m – Booker having the best time in the event of 24.79. Burt will also compete in the 400m, entering with the seventh best time all-time of 56.99.
• The women's 4x100m relay team will also be an event one will want to watch, being led by Booker and Dantzler. Mikayla Hutchison and Shynesti Johnson will the other two runners competing in said event.

UP NEXT
The Mountaineers will divide the team next weekend, competing in the Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa, Calif. (Apr. 13-15), Maverick Multi & Open in Grand Junction, Colo. (Apr. 15-16), and Beach Invitational in Long Beach, Calif (Apr. 16).