COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Optimistically eyeing the best showing in school history, the Tennessee Tech track & field teams heads to Nashville this weekend to compete in the 2016 Ohio Valley Conference Indoor Championships. The meet will be held Friday and Saturday at the Gentry Center on the campus of Tennessee State University.
"We are very excited about the upcoming Indoor championships this weekend," said head coach Wayne Angel. "We are a very young and talented team with high aspirations.
"We will have a lot of underclassmen chasing points, or wins or whatever it takes, but it certainly bodes well for the future of Tennessee Tech Track and field," he said.
While his squad probably lacks the depth yet to challenge for the title, Angel expects the Golden Eagles to make a impact on the event.
"On paper it appears that Eastern Illinois and Tennessee State will be battling for the title, with Southeast Missouri in a strong third," Angel said. "Beyond that it's open for fourth through eighth. It will be very close."
The highest previous finish by a Golden Eagle track & field team at the OVC Indoor Championship is seventh, coming in both 1992 and 1993, when the league included nine teams. Under the current lineup of teams, Tech's best showing is eighth in 2010. That year the Golden Eagles earned first place finishes in the 3,000m and distance medley relay. The most points Tech has produced at this event is 37.
Only four events in which Tech is scheduled to compete will be determined Friday, while Golden Eagle student-athletes running in four preliminary heats Friday with the hope of advancing to the finals on Saturday.
The high jump and weight throw get underway at 2:30 p.m., with Na'Scottisha Drummond competing in the high jump and Makayla Kington in the weight throw. Drummond, a freshman from Duncan, S.C., has a career-best of 5 feet, 3.25 inches in the event, which ranks 10th in the league this year. Kington, a sophomore from Crossville, Tenn., has a season-best toss of 37 feet, 3.75 inches.
The only other individual event to be decided Friday is the 5,000-meter run. Sophomore Sonel Bezuidenhout and junior Purity Murray will represent Tech in the event, which is schedule for 6:40 p.m. Murray's season-best of 17:46.19 ranks 10th in the OVC, while Bezuidenhout has a season-best of 19:04.63.
In addition to points up for grabs in those three events, one relay will take place on Friday and Tech owns the fourth-best time in the conference this year in the distance medley relay at 12:07.21. The lineup for coach Wayne Angel's team in the DMR includes sophomore Madison Stremler, freshman Crystal Leibenberg, freshman D'Airrien Jackson, and junior Sarah Brandt.
Also set for Friday are four events in which Tech has runners in the prelims.
Brandt, Jackson, Stremler and freshman Andrea Retano will compete in the 800m prelims at 3:30 p.m. Heading into Friday, Brandt's school-record time of 2:11.00 heads the OVC list of times, while Jackson's season-best of 2:11.78 ranks third and Stremler owns the sixth-best time in the OVC at 2:14.73.
Next are the 400m dash prelims at 4 p.m., with Robinson and Leibenberg in the field. Robinson owns the best time in the conference so far this year with a 54.14 school record effort at Vanderbilt, while Leibenberg's best time of 57.48 ranks 14th.
Robinson, Hymon and Brittany McGee will race in the 55-meter dash prelims at 4:30 p.m. The OVC doesn't record a best list in the event, but at 60 meters, Robinson's mark of 7.61 ranks fifth in the league.
The final preliminary in which Tech has entries Friday is the 200-meter dash at 5:30 p.m. The field will feature Robinson, Morgan O'Neal and Hymon. Robinson's 24.64 school record ranks fifth in the OVC.
For Tech, Saturday's finals will include Raven Smith in the triple jump at 11 a.m., and Murray in the 3,000-meter run at 3:15 p.m. The event will conclude with the 4x400-meter relay at 3:45 p.m.
Smith has a career-best of 38 feet, 10.25 inches, which is listed sixth in the OVC this year. Murray's best of 10:34.72 at 3,000m is 27th in the league.
The 4x400m relay will include a Tech foursome that holds the school record of 3:48.29, which is third in the OVC this season.
Here is a schedule of Golden Eagles scheduled to compete, not including anyone who will run Saturday in Finals:
FRIDAY
2:30 p.m. - High Jump Finals (Drummond)
2:30 p.m. – Weight Throw Finals (Kington)
3:30 p.m. – 800m Prelims (Brandt, Jackson, Retano, Stremler)
4 p.m. – 400m Prelims (Leibenberg, Robinson)
4:30 p.m. – 55m Prelims (Hymon, McGee, Morgan)
5:30 p.m. – 200m Prelims (Hymon, Morgan, Robinson)
6:10 p.m. – Distance Medley Relay (Stremler, Leibenberg, Jackson, Brandt)
6:40 p.m. – 5,000m Finals (Bezuidenhout, Murray)
SATURDAY
(plus any who qualify on Friday to compete in Finals Saturday)
11 a.m. – Triple Jump Finals (Smith)
3:15 p.m. – 4x400m (Brandt, Hymon, Jackson, Leibenberg, Robinson, Stremler)
