Track and Field Team Heads to Tiger Paw Invitational
2/12/2011 1:46:00 AM
STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern Women's Track team will travel to Clemson, S.C., for the Tiger Paw Invitational Saturday, February 12th. The Eagles were originally scheduled to participate in the Dick Taylor UNC Invitational this weekend, but will return to the Clemson Indoor Track and Field Complex instead.
The Eagles enjoyed success in their last trip to Clemson as sophomore Sara Curry (Lawrenceville, Ga.) reset her own University record in the 5,000 meter Run with a time of 18:44.62, taking more than 23 seconds off her previous mark. Lynndsey Hyter (Dallas, Texas) won the Long Jump at the Orange & Purple Classic last December with a distance of 5.93, which still ranks as the best in the Southern Conference.
"We have high expectations from our team this weekend, as we close in on two weeks until the indoor SoCon track and field championships," said Eagles Head Coach Natalie Smith. "We have a young squad, however, we believe these young ladies have started to get a better understanding what it is going to take for us to see success this season.
"This weekend's meet will offer a ton of competition and include some non-traditional events that will allow us to work on some speed for some runners and endurance for others," Smith said. "We are also looking for some top performances in the jumps, hurdles and the 800 meter event."
Additional events to be contested at the Tiger Paw Invitational include the 300-, 500- and 1,000-meter runs. Curry will run in her first 3,000 meter race as a tune up for the conference championships at the end of February.
Other Eagles who excelled in the meets at Clemson so far this year are Millicent Brooks-Millender (Douglasville, Ga.), who won the Triple Jump at the JRF Invitational at the end of January and freshman Stephanie Hicks (Trenton, N.J.), who finished in fourth place overall with a 3,198 point total in the Pentathlon. Her effort puts her fourth on the Georgia Southern all-time list and currently ranks second in the Southern Conference. Ebony Carter (Rome, Ga.) and Hyter have the top two times of the season in the 60 meter Dash and Jasmine Billings (Lawrenceville, Ga.) posted her best mark of the 2010-11 year in the 60 meter Hurdles.
Azura Robillard (Altamonte Springs, Fla.) and Asea Mayfield (Marietta, Ga.), own six of the Eagles' top times in the 800 meter Run with four of those occurring at Clemson. Natasha Creasy (Christianburg, Va.) posted two of her top three distances in the Shot Put at Clemson and Alex Cassagnol (Augusta, Ga.) has two of her best marks in the High Jump at the Tigers' facility as well.
Clemson will be a home away from home for Georgia Southern as the team will make two more trips there during the indoor season. The Eagles will compete in the Tiger Tune-up on Saturday, February 19th, and then return the following weekend for the Southern Conference Championships February 26th-27th.
Up-to-date information and results for the Georgia Southern Track and Field team can be found at GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com/track&field and short updates are available at twitter.com/GSAthletics or facebook.com/GSAthletics.
