The Washington track and field team will pull double duty this weekend in California, competing in the Mt. SAC Relays and the Brutus Hamilton Invitational.

The field event specialists will be heading down to Walnut, Calif., to compete in the prestigious Mt. SAC relays, where the meet will be divided into the college open, the regular open, the college invite and the professional invite. This last section will host some of the top field event specialists in the country, including many that will be competing at the upcoming 2008 Olympic Trials.

“I don’t have my regional qualifying marks yet, so my goal is to get those and do as well in the meet as possible,” long jumper Norris Frederick said. “There will be a lot of professional athletes there, and people that I will see at the Olympic Trials. I haven’t had a lot of people push me this season, so this will help.”

While the field specialists hit southern California, their fellow sprinters will be up north at the Brutus Hamilton Invitational held at UC Berkeley. Washington’s fastest will have to compete against 10 other schools in the 10th annual event, including the No.14 ranked California women.

While the sprinters and runners are just gearing up for competition, two of their teammates are already done. Senior Blake Bidleman and sophomore Liz Fuller competed in the California Invitational Multi-Events Wednesday and Thursday. The meet was held at Azusa Pacific University in southern California and specialized in competition for male decathletes and female heptathletes. After the first day of competition, Bidleman was in first place out of 23 athletes.

“The high jump was my best event of the day,” Bidleman said. “I jumped a couple inches higher than I have before. In the 400-meters, I also broke 50 seconds, which I have never done before.”

Bidleman’s time of 49.92 in the 400-meter, as well as his performance in the other events, gave him 3,646 points, earning him the lead by over 100 points.

Yesterday, Bidelman sealed the deal with a personal best in the 1,500-meter, finishing the course with a time of 4:25.93. His final score was 7,006, his first score over 7,000. He finished a full 200 points over the next place finisher.

Fuller, meanwhile, finished fourth in the heptathelon with a score of 4,845. Her score was just 355 points behind winner Emily Pearson from Colorado State.

Reach reporter Rebecca Rogers at sports@thedaily.washington.edu.