Track and Field Travels to Texas Tech for Red Raider Invitational

Friday, January 19

Lubbock, Texas

ALL DAY

Stephen F. Austin

Texas Tech Invitational

Track and Field Travels to Texas Tech for Red Raider Invitational

1/18/2018 12:25:00 PM | Track & Field

SFA takes part in second meet of indoor season

By: Kevin Meyer | Assistant Director of Athletic Media Relations

Live Results | Watch

LUBBOCK, Texas – After opening its season last weekend at the Ted Nelson Invitational hosted by Texas A&M, the Stephen F. Austin track and field team will continue the indoor season at the Red Raider Invitational on Friday. A total of ten teams will make up the field at the event, with 10 teams competing on the women's side and eight on the men's.

"Overall I think we had a very positive weekend as a team, we really needed to get out and compete and see where we are as a team, "said SFA head track and field coach Phil Olson. "Did we blow the doors off of everybody? No, but I think we handled our top athletes well and were smart about how we approached the opener. As a coaching staff, I think we felt pretty good about how we performed at the meet, but I think we all feel there's a whole lot of work ahead of us."

Field events kick off at 10:00 a.m on Friday, with the running events starting at 11:00 a.m and continuing into the afternoon up to the projected finish time of 4:20. The Texas Tech Sports Performance Center is an 82,500 square foot facility in its first season of operation.

"Texas Tech has a brand new facility, and from what I've heard it's very similar to Texas A&M's facility, which gives us a great opportunity to compete at a high level," explained Olson. "It's got a good mix of teams, it's a great opportunity to get out and there and compete, and we have a lot of respect for Coach Kittley and his staff. It's an outstanding venue for track and field, and we're going to compete really hard to take advantage of this great opportunity. This weekend is about going out and executing at a high level."

A number of 'Jacks turned in noteworthy performances at the Ted Nelson last weekend, including the jumpers and pole vaulters. Antonio Ruiz and Chad Horstmann will both compete this weekend, while Carson Dingler will look to continue her strong start to the season for the women's side. All three rank in the top five in the Southland Conference this season, with Ruiz and Dingler each owning the top conference marks this season.

Also set to compete in the jump events is high jumper Noah Berney, who put forth a strong showing at the Ted Nelson Invitational and ranks second in the conference in the high jump. On the women's side, a trio of athletes will take part in the triple jump for the first time this season, as Raylie Huff, Kariyah Lanehart and Taylor Terry will each take part in the event. Without multi events scheduled to take place at the meet, this weekend's meet represents a tune up for next weekends two-day multi only event, also hosted by Texas Tech.

In the running events, the 'Jacks will once again look for strong contributions from some of the top runners from the Ted Nelson Invitational. Tedrick Hawkins will once again run a leg of the 4x400 relay, as well as running the 200m dash as well. Kerry Gleason will return to the 60m hurdles in which he qualified for the final last weekend and the 4x400 relay that ranks first in the Southland, but will also run the 600m race for the first time. Jordan Washington will run the 60m hurdles after placing in the top eight last weekend and qualifying for the finals of the event, and Drake Murphy will make his season debut in the 800m race as well.

On the women's side, Imani Nave will run the 60m dash, the 200m and a leg of the 4x400 relay after a strong showing at the Ted Nelson event. After knocking off some rust last weekend in the season opener, a high quality track and another week's worth of training should equate with some strong performances from the SFA runners this weekend.

After a mixed bag of results from the throwers in last weekend's invitational, the group as a whole returns to action this weekend with a sense of urgency to improve on the individual and group performances of the opener. Seven throwers will travel to Texas Tech this weekend, led by Kevin Steward and Mallory Dotson, who each finished fifth in the shot put last weekend. Joining them in competition will be Ben Bibby (weight throw and shot put), Trenton Bridges (weight throw), Tierra Wilson (weight throw), Maggie Okul (weight throw) and Bellodgia Roberson.

"There's a sense of urgency in our team this week, I think each of our throwers identified things they need to improve on, and so even though it was a short week I think it was a productive week as well,' said Olson. "We have a young group of throwers, but their training has gone exceptionally well, and I think as we begin the season I expect them to get better every week."

-SFA-