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Tigers Return to the Track at ASU Invitational
Competition begins Saturday at 3 p.m. and resumes Sunday at 10 a.m.

	Vivian Haynes looks to help the Lady Tigers in her first pentathlon Saturday.

Jan. 22, 2010

Memphis, Tenn.- The University of Memphis track and field team will make the short trek across the Mississippi River to compete in the Arkansas State University Invitational on Sat. Jan 23 and Sun. Jan. 24 at the ASU Convocation Center in Jonesboro, Ark. The meet gets underway Saturday at 3 p.m. and concludes Sunday evening with the men’s and women’s 4x400m relays.

After posting 28 top-five performances as a team at the ASU Kickoff Klassic, U of M head coach Kevin Robinson is excited to see how the team will do in its’ second visit to the Convocation Center this season.

“Well, we had a team meeting yesterday where we got together and talked about all the work and effort we did during the fall to get ready for this point of the season,” Robinson said. “The athletes are really motivated and they are prepared to be successful. They are ready to go battle somebody other than their own teammates for a while. We are excited to see where these athletes are at and this will give us a great baseline for our preparation going into the C-USA Championships in late February.”

Senior thrower Steffen Nerdal recorded an NCAA qualifying mark of 22.41m (73-06.25) in the weight throw at the ASU Kickoff Klassic. Nerdal, currently ranked first in the nation among weight throw marks, qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships for the third-straight season and will look to improve his qualifying mark on Sunday at 12 p.m.

“Steffen is prepared to throw very, very far,” Robinson said. “We are still in a pretty heavy training load so it is difficult to say exactly where he will be. We are not preparing for January, we are preparing for the National Championships. He is a competitor and any time the tape measure comes out he is going to throw a big throw. It is always exciting to see him compete and you never know what you might see him throw.”

Three Tigers will be competing in their first multi-event competitions this weekend. Sophomore Vivian Haynes will compete in the pentathlon for the first time in her career. Junior Darrell Lewis and senior Marvin Stewart will compete in the heptathlon for the Tigers.

“I am excited about the opportunity for our multi-event athletes to compete this early in the season and that is why we changed the schedule a little bit,” Robinson said. “This will be the first pentathlon for Vivian (Haynes). It will also be the first heptathlon for Darrell (Lewis) and Marvin (Stewart). Unfortunately, Leonie (Fiebig) is injured and will not be able to compete for us this weekend.”

The women’s 4x400m relay team consisting of Monica Mason, Vivian Haynes, Keyona Neal and Deneen Kirk broke the school record with a time of 3:54.01 and finished first at the ASU Kickoff Klassic and will look to break the record once again in the last event of the meet.

Saturday Schedule

Multi-Events

Women’s 55m Hurdles 3:00 p.m.

Men’s 55m Dash 3:15 p.m.

Women’s High Jump 3:45 p.m.

Men’s Long Jump 4:00 p.m.

Men’s Shot Put 4:45 p.m.

Women’s Shot Put 5:30 p.m.

Men’s High Jump 6:00 p.m.

Women’s Long Jump 7:30 p.m.

Field Events

Women’s Pole Vault 4:00 p.m.