Feb. 5, 2009

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The University of Memphis track and field team is preparing itself for the Rod McCravy Invitational that will take place this weekend on Friday evening and all day Saturday, Feb. 6-7 in Lexington, Ky. on the campus of the University of Kentucky.

"Our goal for this meet is to improve on our marks for our conference rank and add a few more national qualifiers," said head coach Kevin Robinson. "Some of our athletes have been a little under the weather, but we are bringing the athletes that we believe will be most competitive with this collection of upper echelon athletes."

Friday's events begin at 5:00 p.m. and include men's and women's weight throw event, men's and women's triple jump, women's pole vault and men's high jump. Saturday's events will commence at 10:30 a.m. with the women's high jump. The men's and women's long jump begins at 11:00 a.m. followed by the men's and women's shot put at 11:30 a.m. and the final field event, the pole vault, at 12:00 p.m.

Running events begin at 12:30 with the preliminaries of the men's and women's 60m dash and 60m hurdles. The Bill Lee women's mile and men's mile is between the preliminaries and finals of the 60m dash and 60m hurdles at 1:50 p.m. The 400m dash comes next, followed by the 800m run, the 200m dash, the 3000m run and finally the 4x400m relay.

Full men's and women's teams include host Kentucky, Illinois State, Louisville, Western, Kentucky, Cincinnati, Eastern Kentucky, Middle Tennessee, Southern Illinois, Tennessee-Chattanooga, SIU-Edwardsville, Miami (Ohio) and Clemson. Teams only brining women's squads are Mississippi State, Alabama, Vanderbilt, and Illinois.

This meet is a highly competitive meet with very quality teams," said Robinson. "We're going to have to really work hard to compete. I'm excited to see how our newcomers like Robert (Jackson), Inger (Anne Froyesdal), Aaron (Evans), and Kayleigh (Brown) will do in their first competition on a big stage.

The Rod McCravy Memorial Track and Field meet is named in honor of McCravy, a former University of Kentucky track athlete who died in 1987 at the age of 19 while sleeping in his dorm room. Although only a sophomore, Rod had already become one of the team's leaders. His charisma and genuine caring for others earned him the respect and admiration of all of his teammates. His personal impact on his teammates, friends and coaches went beyond athletics. A social work major, Rod is remembered as a dedicated, enthusiastic athlete who was a conscientious students and outstanding human being. A graduate of Louisville's Trinity High School, Rod was a two-time Class 3A state champ in the 300 meter hurdles. He set the then UK freshman record in the 400 hurdles and finishes sixth at the TAC National Junior Championships. A meet named in Rod's honor enables us to remember him, as well as provide an on-going opportunity to speak to our athletes about his impact on our program and those he surrounded.