Familiar road ahead as Tech runs in Samford Invitational in Birmingham
For the third time in about a month, the Tennessee Tech track & field team will be in familiar surroundings when it competes this weekend at the Samford Invitational. The Golden Eagles return to the Birmingham Crossplex, where they have already been twice during this indoor season.
Click here for complete meet schedule (PDF)
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- For the third time in about a month, the
Tennessee Tech track & field team will be in familiar
surroundings when it competes this weekend at the Samford
Invitational. The Golden Eagles return to the Birmingham Crossplex,
where they have already been twice during this indoor season.
Tech ran in the UAB Blazer Invitational, Jan. 9-10, and was back
on the same track Jan. 24 for the Green & Gold Invitational,
also hosted by UAB. This time, the host is different with Samford
conducting the event.
Different host, but same mission for TTU coach Wayne Angel's
troops -- continue to improve and develop, and tune up for the Ohio
Valley Conference Indoor Chamionships scheduled for Feb. 27-28 in
Charleston, Ill. In fact, this outing in Birmingham is the team's
final competitive tuneup before the OVC meet.
"One of the things we have seen is that the kids are more and more
focused," Angel said. "They understand their own individual goals,
they are each working on the things that will help them improve in
their event, and those are the things that have allowed many of
them to improve from week to week.
"Improvements that they see during the week in their training
translate to improvements on the weekend in competition," Angel
said. "This is the final time they will compete before the OVC
Championships, and it's the last chance they will have to run
side-by-side against student-athletes from different schools. It's
a chance for them to gauge just how much they are improving and
where they stand."
Four Golden Eagles get the meet underway Friday night. Atlanta
Westbrook and Chelsea Mills
will compete in the hugh jump, while Westbrook, Brooklyn
Kimball and Tiara Hymon will
run in the 200-meter dash.
Saturday morning begins with the long jump, hurdles and sprints
while the longer events and throws are slated for the afternoon.
The meet wraps up with the 4x400 relay at 6:50 p.m. A total of 16
members of the Tech squad will be competing.
"We've seen the triple jump record fall each of the past two
meets, and we've seen several others get closer and closer to the
school records in other events," Angel said. "Those are standards
that we want to strive for now, to set a tone for how this program
will continue to evolve and grow into the future."
Tech's schedule of events this
weekend:
Friday
8 pm / 200 meters -Westbrook, Kimball, Hymon
/ High Jump -
Westbrook, Mills
Saturday
9 am / Long Jump - Westbrook, Mills
9:30 am / 60m Hurdles - Mills
10:20 am / 60m Dash - McGee, Hymon, Kimball
12:05 pm / Mile run - Cooper
1 pm / Shot Put - Kington, Lowe
1:15 pm / 400 meters - Kimball, McGee, Turange
2:00 pm / Triple Jump - Westbrook
2:50 pm / 3000m run - Bezuidenhout, McNamara, Balgemann
5:00 pm / Weight Throw - Lowe, Todd, Kington
/ 800 meters - Stremler, Loving, O'Neil
6:50 pm / 4x400 Relay - Kimball, Westbrook, Hymon, Stremler
