Track and Field Tunes Up for Championships
2/19/2011 6:23:00 AM
STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern Track and Field team makes its fourth trip of the season to Clemson on Saturday, February 19th for the Tiger Tuneup at the Clemson Indoor Track and Field Complex. The Eagles are ramping up for breakout performances leading up to the conference championships next weekend. The field events begin with the women's Weight Throw at 10 a.m. with the first track event, the women's Mile Run, starting at 12 p.m.
Last week at Clemson's Tiger Paw Invitational, eight season-best marks were achieved by the Eagles, including a University-record time in the 3,000 meter Run (10.43.74) by sophomore Sara Curry (Lawrenceville, Ga.) and a career-best Long Jump (19'9.75") by senior Lynndsey Hyter (Dallas, Texas). Curry broke the seven-year-old 5,000 meter Run record in the same building at the end of last month at the JRF Invitational.
"We are using this meet to fine tune in some areas and give the ladies one
more opportunity to better their season marks before rankings come out
next week," said Eagles Head Coach Natalie Smith. "The better marks we have, the better lane assignments and heats we will receive. There are two areas where we really need to drop time: the 400 meter and in the throws to get some marks on the board. We are really looking forward to next week and hopefully that will show in our results as we prepare for the championships."
Georgia Southern is well represented on the conference's top-20 list with Hyter holding the top spot in both the Triple Jump and the Long Jump. The Eagles dominate in the 60 Hurdles, with Stephanie Hicks (Trenton, N.J.), Kwajelin Holsendolph (Hinesville, Ga.) and Jasmine Billings (Lawrenceville, Ga.) claiming three of the top four places. In the 60 meter Dash, Ebony Carter (Rome, Ga.) and Hyter hold second and third place in the league rankings headed into the Tiger Tuneup.
Curry appears in the top 20 in both the 5,000 meter Run and Mile Run while Millicent Brooks-Millender is one of the three Eagles in the top five of the Long Jump and is third in the Triple Jump event. Alex Cassagnol (Augusta, Ga.) moved to fifth place in the High Jump and Natasha Creasy (Christianburg, Va.) holds fifth place in the shot put. Hicks is second overall in the Pentathlon with a total that was just 13 points behind the leader.
The team is just one week away from the Southern Conference Indoor Track Championships, which will be held at the same facility Saturday-Sunday, 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.
