Feb. 10, 2005

Memphis, Tenn. - The University of Memphis track and field teams will take the road to Fayetteville, Ark., Friday and Saturday, February 11-12 for the Tyson Invitational. The meet, hosted at the Randall Tyson Track Center on the campus of the University of Arkansas, will feature approximately 55 of the nation's top teams, along with premier professional athletes.

This weekend's meet will be a huge test for U of M athletes as they face by far their stiffest competition of the season. Both the men's and women's collegiate fields will feature 13 of the top 25 teams in the country, along with Conference USA foes Houston, East Carolina and TCU.

Entering the meet, a number of Memphis athletes still sit at the top of the C-USA rankings for their respective events. Senior Janon Busby, who is coming off his third title in three meets, leads the league in the triple jump with a mark of 50-03.25" (15.32m). J.D. Erickson is second in the conference in both the shot put and weight throw with tosses of 55-10.25" (17.02m) and 60-01.25" (18.32m), respectively, while Daniel Kiss ranks second in the 60m hurdles with a time of 7.87 seconds.

On the women's side, thrower Gail Lee remains atop the rankings in the shot put with her toss of 52-07.50" (16.04m) and is second in the weight throw with a mark of 57-00.00" (17.37m). Daniele Riendeau and Chen Edri also hold down top-five spots for the Lady Tigers, as Riendeau ranks fourth in the 1-mile with a time of 5:01.14 and Edri sits at fifth in the high jump with a leap of 5-07.75" (1.72m).

Several other Memphis athletes, including Sheena Ohlig and Cassandra Harding for the women and Avi Shaposhnik and Austin Hunter for the men, have the opportunity to establish themselves as contenders in the conference with strong showings this weekend.

Competition at the Tyson Invitational is set to begin at 7 p.m. Friday night with the professional portion of the meet. Collegiate events are scheduled for 9 a.m. Saturday morning, with finals slated to begin at 6 p.m.

Live results for the meet will be available on the University of Arkansas' website, www.hogwired.com, with final results posted at gotigersgo.com.