FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Northern Arizona track and field is heading to Austin, Texas for the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays hosted by the University of Texas. The meet is held from Thursday, March 26-Saturday March 28 with events beginning at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, 9:30 a.m. Friday and 8:15 a.m. on Saturday.

The highlight from last year's Texas Relays was an outdoor school-record setting performance from Deante Kemper. He cleared 7-02.50 and finished fourth in the men's high jump. Kemper tied that outdoor career-best during the 2015 indoor season and holds both records going into his final season for the Lumberjacks. Earlier this month, he earned his first All-American honor when he finished fourth in the high jump at the NCAA Championships. He also won his fifth Big Sky Championships and third in a row during the indoor season.

Last week, the 'Jacks opened their outdoor season at the UC Irvine Spring Break Invitational. Sophomore Brooke Andersen was the stand-out in Irvine when she posted a career-best distance of 202-02 in the women's hammer throw. She won the event and currently ranks third in the nation for her distance.

Andersen wasn't the only Lumberjack to come out of the first meet of the season with a win—Gus Margiotta won the men's hammer throw and Kayla Freeman won the 5000m and qualified for the Big Sky Outdoor Championships on the first night of the invitational. On the second day, the sprints team continued to make a strong showing following their dominating performance at the Big Sky Championships. James Fisher and Adel al Nasser both picked up wins in the 200m and 400m, respectively while Shamelle Pless won the 400m and Darriel Banks won the 200m. Vernon Jamison finished second in the 110m hurdles with a time of 14.24 which currently ranks 14th in the nation.

Alexis Clay picked up an early qualifying mark and a win in the long jump while Melanie Zibrat won the women's 800m. Zibrat will be joined by Emily Bartz this weekend at Texas State.  

At the Willie Williams Classic in Tucson, Ariz. last weekend, Julia Viberg won the discus with a distance of 54.82m. She currently ranks sixth in the nation.

Gus Margiotta led the men's throws at UC Irvine picking up a win and career-best in the hammer and a second-place finish and Big Sky Standard in the shot put.

"Ideally, you see really good competition," said Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Eric Heins about the advantages of the Texas Relays. "Going throughout the rest of the season, it's good to have seen the best athletes from all over the west region at the Texas Relays. That's the advantage of this meet—we are competing against athletes that we could be seeing in two months at the west regional championships."

A complete schedule as well as live results are available at www.texassports.com.