April 20, 2006

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The Memphis track and field teams are set to travel to Nashville., Tenn., on Friday and Saturday to take part in the Vanderbilt Invitational, which will be held on the campus of Vanderbilt University.

The two-day meet is scheduled to get underway at approximately 4:30 Friday afternoon and will continue Saturday at 12 p.m.

Outside of Memphis and host, Vanderbilt, nearly 35 teams are slated to compete, including Southeastern Conference powers Tennessee and Alabama and regional foes Southern Illinois, Arkansas State, Southeast Missouri and Middle Tennessee State.

Entering the meet, a number of Tiger and Lady Tiger athletes sit near the top of the performance lists in their respective events and should be primed to compete for event titles.

On the women's side, thrower's Gail Lee, Susan King and Sivan Aballi lead the way, with each ranking in the top eight in multiple events. Distance runners Daniele Riendeau (5000m) and Emily Malinowski (3000m) each rank second entering the meet, while Josetta Brooks is among the top competitors in the 100m hurdles and Chen Edri is near the top in both the high jump and javelin.

For the men, J.D. Erickson leads the way, ranking near the top in the shot put, hammer and discus, while fellow thrower, Norbert Gulyas in the top five in the discus. Brandon Winbush and Tyler Frazier are the lone remaining U of M athletes with top seeds, as the two rank in the top five in the long jump and javelin, respectively.

Results for the Vanderbilt Invitational will be available at www.alltraxtiming.com following the meet, while results and a recap will be posted at gotigersgo.com.