SFA Heads South for Houston Invitational on Friday/Saturday
1/28/2016 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
SFA at Houston Invitational
Friday, January 29 – Saturday, January 30
Yeoman Fieldhouse • Houston, Texas
Heat Sheets • Schedule • Live Results
HOUSTON, Texas – With just about two weeks remaining until the 2016 Southland Conference Indoor Championships, the Stephen F. Austin track and field teams have one final team event on the schedule – the Houston Invitational this Friday and Saturday inside the University of Houston’s Yeoman Fieldhouse.
Action in the two-day event begins on Friday at 10:00 a.m. with the women’s weight throw. Multi-events are set to follow starting with the 60-meter hurdles of the women’s pentathlon at noon, while the men’s heptathlon starts at 12:30 p.m. with the 60-meter dash. Individual running events on Friday get underway at 4:30 p.m. with the men’s and women’s 400-meter dash.
Saturday’s slate begins with the shot put and women’s long jump at 9:00 a.m., followed by the resumption of the men’s heptathlon at 10:00 a.m. Individual running events on Saturday start with the semifinals of the women’s 60-meter hurdles at noon. From there, the track events will be on a rolling schedule for the remainder of the afternoon.
The ‘Jacks will be up against 19 collegiate programs this weekend along with many professional teams and individuals. SFA is one of seven schools from the SLC in the packed lineup, which also features Abilene Christian, Houston Baptist, Incarnate Word, Lamar, Sam Houston State and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Other collegiate teams include Houston, Grambling, Florida International, New Mexico State, North Texas, Prairie View A&M, Rice, SMU, Texas Southern, Texas State, Texas-Arlington and UT-Rio Grande Valley.
While the full squad was off last weekend, SFA’s multi-event athletes competed strong at the Samford Stand Alone Multi last Wednesday and Thursday. Sophomore Hunter Key led the way in the men’s heptathlon, recording a big PR with 4,778 points to take second place out of 16 men. Junior Madeline Kaufmann claimed third out of 24 in the women’s pentathlon with 3,392 points. The pair landed Honorable Mention SLC Athlete of the Week honors for their efforts.
With two weeks since the full team last competed at Texas A&M, head coach Phil Olson wants to see his team regain a sense of urgency this weekend as the SLC meet looms near.
“I feel like we’ve competed very well so far this year, especially on the men’s side,” said Olson. “We were extremely competitive at Texas A&M. As I told our team at our last team meeting, we have a lack of urgency right now, which is the result of having an off weekend I think. This weekend in Houston, I expect more, our coaches expect more and our athletes should expect more of themselves.
“This is the championship phase of our season and we have to have that championship mindset. If we are going to make any steps towards excelling at a high level at the conference championship meet, everybody’s going to have to step up in the program. Our athletes, coaches, managers, trainers – everybody has to get better.”
The ‘Jacks are in the field next weekend at the New Mexico Collegiate Classic, but Houston represents the final chance for evaluations to be made of the full team prior to the SLC showdown in Birmingham from Feb. 15-16.
“Our performance has not equaled the level of competitive effort, so we’re expecting better results this weekend,” Olson said. “This will be our final opportunity to see some of our athletes who might not be going to New Mexico and it will help us make final decisions on who we’re going to take to the conference meet. We’re looking forward to see who is going to step up.”
For updates on the SFA Track and Field program this weekend and all season long, follow the team on Twitter (@SFA_TFXC).
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