By Nate Perry, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The full 2019 schedule for the defending indoor and outdoor Ohio Valley Conference champion Tennessee Tech track and field team is now set.
The slate features six daunting regular-season indoor meets, five outdoor dates that should prove to be equally as challenging, as well as the information for both the indoor and outdoor OVC Championship and NCAA Championship meets.
"I'm very excited about the 2019 schedule," said head coach Wayne Angel, who won his second and third OVC Coach of the Year awards with last season's sweep. "It exposes our program to top-level competition on both the regional and national levels."
Along with the completed season-opener at Vanderbilt back on December 1 – where the Golden Eagles posted six top-six finishes, including two runner-ups – five of the six meets in Tech's indoor portion will be hosted by Power 5 opponents from the Southeastern and Big Ten conferences.
The Kentucky Invitational will be TTU's first action after the New Year on January 11-12, followed by a return trip to Vanderbilt for the Commodore Invitational on Jan. 18-19.
Then, it will be off to the state of Indiana for competitions at the Indiana Relays on Jan. 25-26, and the Purdue Fred Wilt Invitational February 1-2.
The final encounter of the indoor regular season will be a single-day event at the Samford Invitational on Feb. 9.
Following a week off, the Golden Eagles will begin title defense No. 1 when they head to the OVC Indoor Championships at the Birmingham CrossPlex in Birmingham, Ala. on Feb. 20-21.
The site of the conference championships will provide a built-in advantage for any NCAA Indoor Championships qualifiers, as the CrossPlex will also play host for that event on March 8-9.
TTU will waste no time getting their outdoor season underway, with the opener scheduled for March 15-16 at the Georgia Tech Invitational in Atlanta.
Georgia Tech will be the first stop in an outdoor campaign that features four more Power 5 sites, followed by the Raleigh Relays at North Carolina State (March 29-30), the Virginia Challenge (April 19-20), and the Jesse Owens Classic at Ohio State (April 26-27).
"It's important for the growth and continued development of our program to have a challenging array of competition," said Angel. "This schedule clearly fits that bill."
Tech will also venture to Western Kentucky for the Hilltopper Relays on April 6.
The three-day OVC Outdoor Championships will be held May 9-11, and will be hosted by Southeast Missouri, in Cape Girardeau, Mo.
Two weeks later, the best Division I athletes in the eastern half of the United States will descend upon Jacksonville, Fla for the NCAA Outdoor East Preliminary Round May 23-25.
Tech sent a program-record five athletes to the East Preliminaries last year: D'Airrien Jackson, 400 meters; Micayla Rennick, 10,000m; Khemani Roberts, high jump; Na'Asha Robinson 200m, 400m; and Purity Sanga 10,000m.
Jackson, Roberts and Sanga will all be looking to make return appearances.
"I think both the indoor and outdoor segments of this schedule will have us ready to compete at our best when it comes time for the conference championship and NCAA qualifier meets," Angel said. "The prestige of our regular season meets will allow us to prepare alongside some of the best teams in the country."
