April 21, 2005

Memphis, Tenn. - Coming off several of their strongest showings to this point in the season, the Memphis track and field squads will return to Oxford, Miss., for the third time of the season, this time for the Mississippi Open, hosted by Ole Miss on Saturday, April 23.

Last weekend, the U of M teams traveled predominately to the Jace Lacoste Invitational in Starkville, Miss., while also sending Lady Tiger athletes to the Sea Ray Relays and the Lee Calhoun Memorial Invitational.

Even with the squad spread thin, the women saw strong performances at all three meets. At the Lee Calhoun Memorial, junior Josetta Brooks set a personal best in the 400m hurdles and a season best in the 100m hurdles, claiming victories in both events, while at Sea Ray, sophomore Daniele Riendeau broke her own school record in 1500m.

In Starkville, Victoria Crawford placed second in the triple jump. Chen Edri set a season best and school record in the javelin and another season best in the high jump. Annette Uzoh added personal records in the shot put and hammer, while Sivan Aballi recorded a career best in the shot put.

For the men, the highlights were just as prevalent. Seniors Janon Busby and Daniel Kiss led the way, with Busby setting a season best and improving upon his Regional qualifying mark in the triple jump and Kiss winning the 110m hurdles in Regional qualifying time, though he had previously qualified earlier in the season.

Brandon Winbush set a season best and improved his Regional qualifying leap in the long jump. The 4x100m relay team of Daniel Bandy, Willie Green, Kiss and Gary Nemeth claimed a victory, setting a season best and narrowly missing a Regional qualifying mark, while Norbert Gulyas, Jason Morgan and Cody Rushing each set personal bests on the day.

Entering this weekend's meet, five U of M athletes have qualified for NCAA Regionals, which will be held Friday-Saturday, May 27-28, in Bloomington, Ind. For the women, Lisa-Marie Hyman who currently ranks sixth in the Mideast Region and 18th in the nation and Crawford, who ranks 13th in the Mideast Region and 33rd in the nation have both qualified in the triple jump.

On the men's side, Kiss, Busby and Winbush have punched their tickets in the 110m hurdles, triple jump and long jump, respectively. Kiss' presently ranks the highest of any U of M athlete, sitting third in the Mideast Region and sixth in the nation, and also ranking 10th in Trackwire's Dandy Dozen for the 110m hurdles. Busby ranks seventh in the region and 24th in the nation, while Winbush is ninth in the region and 25th in the nation.

Several additional Memphis athletes have opportunities to reach Regional qualifying standards and will hope to gain ground this weekend.

Competition at the Mississippi Open is set to begin at 12 p.m. Saturday with the Women's hammer and javelin throws, and will continue throughout the day. The first running events, the 4x100m relays are slated for 2:50 p.m.

Live results for the Mississippi Open can be followed on Ole Miss' website, www.olemisssports.com, while complete results and recaps will be posted at gotigersgo.com after the conclusion of the meet.