Idaho State's Cassie Merkley is leading the women's heptathlon and Utah State's John Strang is ahead in the men's decathlon after the first day of the multi-events at the 2008 BYU Robison Invitational.

For the men, BYU junior Justin Palmer and freshmen Chase Dalton and Jordan Calderwood are in all in the top five. Palmer is in second place with 3,681 points after winning the shot put (42 feet, 11.5 inches) and long jump (22-0.5). Dalton finished second in the shot put (40-1.25) and Calderwood's top mark was third-place finish in the 100-meter dash (11.13).

"It was a solid day," BYU men's coach Mark Robison said. "Palmer still has a pretty good chance to qualify for nationals, and Dalton and Calderwood continue to improve on their previous marks."

On the women's side, BYU freshman Chelsi Petersen is in third place with 2,992 points. Petersen finished third in the 200 dash (25.18) and fourth in the 100 hurdles (14.59). Despite purposely no-heighting in the high jump, freshman Mindy Robins is currently in 12th place after a second-place finish in the 100 hurdles (14.10) and second-place finish in the 200 dash (25.17).

"Chelsi got a personal record in the 200, her second-best high jump and second-best shot put," BYU women's coach Craig Poole said. "And Mindy did great, but she is primarily just feeling things out with a few events."

The multi-events will resume today, starting with the decathlon at noon and the heptathlon at 2 p.m.

• Four Cougars named to Rotary Lombardi Award watch list: BYU and Hawaii led the way with four preseason candidates on the watch list for the Rotary Lombardi Award, announced Wednesday. The award, presented annually by the Rotary Club of Houston, is given to the top down lineman in the country, including players who line up within five yards of the football.

Adding to their growing list of preseason accolades, the Cougars' defensive end Jan Jorgensen, tight end Dennis Pitta and offensive linemen Ray Feinga and Dallas Reynolds have all been named to the preseason watch list for the award.

The winner of the award is selected by the Rotary Lombardi Selection Committee, which is comprised of more than 500 members, including all the past winners and finalists, all Division I head coaches and a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters.

• Cougar tennis players net honors: At Fort Worth, Texas, members of both the BYU men's and women's tennis teams were honored as the Mountain West Conference announced its postseason awards on Wednesday.

Freshman of the Year honors went to men's player Thomas Shubert, who recorded a 21-14 singles record for BYU while playing at the No. 2 position for the majority of the season. Shubert also earned a 12-6 doubles record with teammate Daniel Hwang.

Both Anastasia Surkova and Kristina Doerr were named to the All-MWC Team in singles. Leading the Cougars at the No. 1 position, Surkova, the nations 53rd-ranked player, earned a 15-8 record this season. The senior's wins included upsets over No. 23 Gina Schofield from South Carolina and No. 31 Elena Gantcheva of UNLV. This marks the second all-conference singles honor for Surkova in as many years. Playing at No. 2 singles for BYU, Doerr posted an impressive 15-9 record in her sophomore season.

Surkova and fellow senior Jennifer Miccoli received their third consecutive All-MWC Team award in doubles. Together the duo have posted a 12-6 record so far this season, including a win over Arkansas' No. 12-ranked pair.

The MWC awards are selected by the league's nine head coaches. The MWC conference tournaments begin today for the Cougars as the No. 5-seed women's team will play Utah and the No. 5-seed men's team will face UNLV in the quarterfinal round.

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• UVSC baseball begins homestand: After playing eight straight out on the road, the UVSC baseball teams returns to Brent Brown Ballpark for a five-game homestand beginning with Dixie State today at 7 p.m. The in-state foes will play a three-game series, with the final two games scheduled as a Saturday doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m.

The Wolverines (9-26-1) went 2-2 at the Northern Colorado Triangular last weekend, splitting two games with both Air Force and Northern Colorado. In the opening game on Friday against Air Force played at Northern Colorado's Jackson Field, UVSC scored five ninth-inning runs to force extra innings before the Falcons prevailed 8-7 in 10 innings.

The following day, Utah Valley defeated Air Force 17-6, setting new season highs in both runs and hits (21). Later on the in the afternoon the Wolverines eclipsed that hit total by smacking out 22 hits in a 15-14 win over Northern Colorado.

Dixie State was swept over the weekend at Central Washington to drop to 21-19 on the year. The Rebels are led by Kyle Pratt's .420 batting average and 43 RBI while Mark Rose has 10 home runs and 42 batted in. Dixie is 2-0 this year and 3-2 all-time at the NCAA level against UVSC after winning a pair of 7-6 contests earlier this season in St. George.