By the numbers, UTEP's Yanique Bennett heads into this weekend's West Preliminaries as a decided underdog.
The junior enters the 400-meter hurdles sitting 20th out of 48 runner in a three-day, two-round meet where 12 athletes will advance to the national championships in Eugene, Ore.
There, though, is one big reason to believe in Yanique Bennett. This is the time of year when Bennett believes in herself.
That was true last year when she won a junior college national championship at Iowa Western Community College, it was true the year before when she finished second as a freshman, it was true at last week's Conference USA championships when she ran a season's best time of 58.