[Online exclusive]: Women's track pulls out another big gun for weekend indoor meet

As each week passes, the Bruin women’s track team keeps unveiling new weapons. And as the Bruins head south for the Tyson Indoor Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark., this weekend, senior Dawn Harper, a two-time indoor All-American, will see her first action of the year competing in the 60-meter hurdles Saturday. “I’ve been anticipating this since the first day of practice,” Harper said. “I want to make a mark for people to chase and to just perform to the best of my abilities.” Also an All-American last year in the outdoor 100m hurdles, Harper was held back from the first two meets as a precautionary measure. Joining Harper for the meet will be junior Ashley Caldwell, who was absent at last weekend’s meet in Idaho. Caldwell will be anchoring the distance medley relay as the duo hopes to shave time from its first race in Seattle, while strengthening its position for the NCAA Championships. “We have had two great weeks of training,” Caldwell said. “We took the first meet as more of a warm-up, and I think now we will all be able to bring all of our times down to secure that spot at the NCAAs.”

MEN’S TRACK: While the women are in Arkansas, the men will be heading to the Midwest to the Iowa State Classic this weekend. The meet should provide some stiffer competition for coach Art Venegas’ squad, which has faced relatively weak fields during the first two meets of the season. “This meet will be a good test for us,” he said. “We will be going up against some top-ranked teams from the Big East.” In particular, the 4x400m relay team will be looking to improve on its season opening two weeks ago. “We’ve been taking it easy so we can go into this meet fresh,” said junior Brandon Johnson, who will be anchoring the relay. “Hopefully we can get that national-qualifying mark so we don’t have to worry about it any more.” Junior Austin Ramos will star in the 5,000m for the first time this year as he looks to carry over his tremendous performance from cross country into the indoor track season. “I’m in really good shape, and I’m excited to see what I can do,” he said. “I’ve achieved a higher level, but I still haven’t proven myself in track.”