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Tigers Continue Outdoor Season at LSU Relays
March 25, 2010
Memphis, Tenn. – After posting 35 top-10 performances at the Rhodes Open last weekend, the University of Memphis track and field squad will continue the outdoor season at the LSU Relays on Friday, March 26 and Saturday, March 27. The meet, held at the Bernie Moore Track Stadium on the campus of Louisiana State University, gets underway on Friday at 10:00 a.m. with the women’s javelin throw. Friday’s running events begin with the preliminaries of the women’s 4x100m relay. The meet will resume on Saturday with the women’s discus throw at noon. “This is going to be the first major test of the outdoor season,” Robinson said. “We are still in the stage of training through these first couple of outdoor meets in preparation for the C-USA Championships. I expect our performances on the track to pick up a little bit. It is definitely a challenge, but this is an opportunity for us to continue to prove ourselves as a program in terms of nation performances. We always embrace the opportunity to go out and compete with anybody.” Sophomore pole vaulter Karlis Pujats will compete outdoors for the first time this season. The Riga, Latvia native broke the University of Memphis indoor pole vault record five different times during the indoor season. Pujats has his eyes set on the record of 5.10m (16-08.75) that was set during the 1999 outdoor season by former Tiger Christos Adamides.
“Karlis has taken a few weeks to regroup after the Last Chance qualifier from the indoor season and I expect him to put up a big number this weekend,” Robinson said. “Karlis trains really hard and puts a lot of pressure on himself and he will be ready to go come competition time.” Junior sprinter Richard Lowe currently leads C-USA with a 400m dash time of 47.90 seconds. Lowe will compete in the 400m hurdles this weekend and the coaching staff believes he can lead the conference in that event as well. “We are certainly expecting big things from Richard this weekend,” Robinson said. “Anytime you can face the competition he will face this weekend, it brings out the best of a competitor. Richard is a great competitor and I look forward to seeing him compete this weekend.” On the women’s side, Robinson and staff expect good performances from LaShundra Kershaw and distance runner Kayleigh Brown. Kershaw ranks in the top-three in the 100m and 200m dash among C-USA competitors. Brown is the only C-USA athlete to run the 3000m steeplechase after one meet, but she ranks 25th nationally. “The competition level at this meet is going to be great for the whole team,” Robinson said. “This meet will help us, as a staff, to be able to evaluate our team and know what we need to work on, as well as the direction that we need to go in order to improve. We will continue our goal from here to compete for a conference championship."
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Memphis Tigers
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