Coming two weeks after Boise’s early-season Bandanna Treasure Valley Invite, the YMCA Invitational brings together some of the top Idaho talent and serves as a great preview for fans of the athletes who will star in the state meet. As befits a state which has recently seen an upsurge in top-shelf distance talent, the longer races figure to be some of the highlights, but a host of sprinters, jumpers and throwers currently ranked in the NW Top 10 will keep things interesting on the track and in the field.

A couple of events to keep an eye on:

Girls 1600/3200
At last year’s YMCA meet, then-sophomore Nicole Nielsen (Borah ID jr) doubled up on the distance races, barely taking the 1600 (5:00.73 to Bethany McInturff’s 5:00.77) before claiming the 3200 in 11:01.12. Nielsen (right, photo by Gregg Mizuta) is back, and has a Foot Locker National cross country appearance under her belt, as well as a meet record 11:04.54 (NW#8) at the Bandanna Invite two weeks ago. Look for Nielsen to defend her title without too much difficulty in the 3200, but the 1600 will be no easy task. McInturff returns to challenge, along with Boise’s trio of Jacque Sahlberg, Sarah Olson and Anne Lovelace. All of them have sub-5 talent, which could result in a flood of finishers under the magic five minute mark.

Shot Put and Discus
Nielsen isn’t the only star at Borah; senior thrower Caleb McSurdy will certainly give his younger teammate a run for her money in the meet highlight department. At the 2007 YMCA Invite, McSurdy grabbed a big double of his own with a 161-06 DT victory and a 54-10.75 SP win. He’s only gotten better. Currently ranked #3 in the Northwest in the SP (57-11) and #4 in the discus (175-0), McSurdy is the class of Idaho right now, but upset-minded bigmen like Michael Cardinal (Blackfoot ID), a double winner at last weekend’s Boise Relays, and Cody Hays (Lewiston ID), will look to keep things interesting.

Not to be outdone by the boys, the girls’ shot put features one of the better throwers in the Northwest, NW#2-ranked Ellen Rouse (Orofino ID) with a PR of 43-02.50. No one in the field has thrown within three feet of Rouse, so she looks like a good bet in the shot, and could threaten in the discus as well, where she enters as the fourth-seeded thrower.

Girls Pole Vault
This one could be a battle over twelve feet, as three of the top five girls’ vaulters in the Northwest look to scale the heights in Boise. Danielle Valentine (Vallivue ID) comes in at NW#1 with her 12-4 clearance, but she’ll be tested by two other 12-footers. Borah’s Theresa Waybright and Nampa Christian’s Chelsea Barr make it three who are capable of that height, and if all three are on their A-game, it should be a hot event.

Triple Jumps
The boys and girls triple jumps feature a pair of spring-loaded leapers from Capital ID who are both in the top 5 in the Northwest for their respective events. Kasen Covington, with a NW#2 best of 48-04.00, has been four feet farther than anyone else in the field, while defending girls champ Sam Nielson has hopped-skipped- and jumped her way all the way out to NW#5 37-06.00.