Feb. 23, 2006

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The Memphis track and field teams are set to travel to Houston, Texas Friday and Saturday, February 24-25 for the Conference USA Indoor Track and Field Championships, hosted at the University of Houston's Yeoman Fieldhouse.

Entering the meet, a number of Memphis athletes sit at, or near the top of the conference rankings for their respective events and are poised to make a push for C-USA titles.

Leading the charge will likely be throwers J.D. Erickson and Susan King, who each lead the rankings in one event and are near the top in a second. Erickson is the top-ranking Tiger, leading the field in the shot put with a mark of 55-03.50", while ranking third in the weight throw with a mark of 61-02.00". King is the highest rated U of M woman, as she leads C-USA in the shot with a mark of 50-00.00" and ranks fourth in the weight with a mark of 55-11.25".

Three additional Lady Tigers rank in the top-three in one event. Sophomore Annette Uzoh is the highest-ranking of the three, sitting second in the weight throw with a mark of 56-11.50". Fellow thrower Sivan Aballi ranks third in the shot put with a mark of 46-05.50", while junior Daniele Riendeau is the highest ranking runner, sitting third in the 3000m with a time of 9:49.75.

For the U of M men, Brandon Winbush, who is second in the long jump with a mark of 23-06.00", is the second-highest rated athlete, while the junior also ranks seventh in the triple jump with an effort of 45-07.25".

Three more Tigers hold third-place marks entering the meet. Willie Green ranks in the 60m dash with a time of 7.68s. Austin Hunter sits third in the 400m with a time of 48.23s, and Stephon Greenlee ranks third in the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.34s.

Thrower Norbert Gulyas is the lone remaining U of M athlete to hold a top-five ranking, doing so in two events, the shot put with a mark of 53-07.50", and the weight throw with a mark of 51-05.75".

Several additional athletes rank in the top-10 in their events and should have a solid shot to score at the C-USA meet. On the women's side, Nikole Jackson in the weight throw and shot put, Emily Malinowski in the 3000m, Whitney Bolton in the pole vault, Chen Edri in the high jump and Josetta Brooks in the 60m hurdles will all look for top-eight showings.

For the Tigers, Daniel Bandy in the 60m and Larry Harris and Amaechi Oselukwue in the 60m hurdles each hold a top-ten rank and will look to move up further this weekend.

Heptathlete Jason Morgan, who scored at the 2005 indoor meet, should also have good opportunity to make the top-eight this year, but is not included in the rankings because he has not yet competed in the heptathlon this season.

The C-USA Indoor Championships are set to get underway Friday morning at 9:00 a.m. with the opening events of the heptathlon and pentathlon. Field events will begin at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, while running events will commence at 6:00 p.m. The multi-events will again kick-off competition at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, with field events beginning at 11:00 a.m., to be followed by running events at 1:00 p.m.

Live results for the championships can be followed on the internet via the University of Houston website, www.uhcougers.collegesports.com, or the C-USA website, www.conferenceusa.collegesports.com.