By Rob Schabert, Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – For the third time this indoor season, the Tennessee Tech women’s track & field team will venture to the Music City, this time for the Vanderbilt Invitational Friday and Saturday. Tech opened the schedule in the same facility at the Vanderbilt Indoor Opener, Dec. 5, and ran last Sunday at the Ed Temple Invitational hosted by Tennessee State University.
Coach Wayne Angel’s team has broken school records in both meets, and the second-year coach expects that trend to continue against some outstanding competition this weekend.
In addition to the Golden Eagles and host Commodores, teams competing come from several strong conferencea including the Big 10, Southeastern, Sun Belt, Conference USA and Atlantic Coast Conference, as well as the Ohio Valley Conference.
The list of teams scheduled to appear include Alabama, Alabama A&M, Auburn, Belmont, Georgia Tech, Lipscomb, Michigan, Middle Tennessee State, Mississippi State, Murray State, South Alabama, Tennessee, Tennessee State, Tennessee Tech, Trevecca Nazarene, Vanderbilt and Western Kentucky.
Tech will send 20 student-athletes into the competition, which begins Friday at 4 p.m. with field events, and continues with running events Friday evening. Saturday’s schedule opens in the morning with both running and field events.
Freshman Na’Asha Robinson, a nominee for OVC Runner of the Week, looks to add or upgrade her collection of school records. She has already smashed the school marks at 55m, 200m and 400m, as well as with the 4x400m relay foursome. School marks have also fallen to performances by Raven Smith (triple jump), Jaydean Joseph (200m) and D’Airrien Jackson (800m).
Purity Murray, who emerged as the team leader in the cross country season and ran a 5,000m race just short of the school record last week at Tennessee State, will compete in the mile run for the first time in her Golden Eagle career.
Another event in which the school record is in jeopardy is the 4x800m relay, with the promising grouping of Sarah Brandt, Madison Stremler, Angela Retano and Molly Griffin set to race that distance for the first time.
RESULTS: www.CFPITiming.com
FRIDAY - FIELD EVENTS involving Tech
4:00 PM: HIGH JUMP - NaScottisha Drummond
4:00 PM: WEIGHT THROW - Makayla Kington
5:00 PM: LONG JUMP – Raven Smith
FRIDAY - RUNNING EVENTS involving Tech
7:00 PM: 200 METERS – Brittany McGee, Tiara Hymon, Morgan O’Neal, Jaydean Joseph, Tina Driscoll, Raven Smith
8:00 PM: 4X800 RELAY – Sarah Brandt, Madison Stremler, Angela Retano, Molly Griffin
SATURDAY - FIELD EVENTS involving Tech
11:00 AM: SHOT PUT – Makayla Kington, Antonia Susnjar
2:00 PM: TRIPLE JUMP – Raven Smith, NaScottisha Drummond
SATURDAY - RUNNING EVENTS involving Tech
10:00 AM 3000 METERS-unseeded – Lera McNamara, Anna Cooper (photo above), Jenna Storms, Sonel Bezuidenhout
10:30 AM MILE RUN-unseeded – Purity Murray
11:00 AM 800 METERS-unseeded – Molly Griffin, Angela Retano, Madison Stremler, Tina Driscoll
11:30 AM 400 METERS-unseeded – Jaydean Joseph
1:40 PM: 60 METERS-prelim – Brittany McGee, Morgan O’Neal. Tiara Hymon
3:10 PM: 60 METERS-final (qualifiers)
3:20 PM: 400 METERS-seeded – D’Airrien Jackson, Na’Asha Robinson
4:45 PM: 4X400 RELAY – Team A: Robinson, Jackson, Washington, Joseph
Team B: Stremler, Hymon, Retano, O’Neal
