Feb. 12, 2011

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Memphis track and field capped off its weekend at the Indiana Hoosier Hills Invitational, Saturday, with strong sprint runs to round out a long weekend.

“Today was tough,” said head coach Kevin Robinson. “Last night’s competition didn’t end until late, and we had to get everybody up early for today’s competition. I think that took its toll on some of our competitors, but we held our own.”

No Tigers performed better under today’s conditions than freshmen Taurean Nixon (6.94) and Jaz Davis (7.01), who were champion and runner-up, respectively, in the 60m dash finals. Senior Frashod Barlow was sixth in the event with a 7.13 mark, giving the Tigers half of the top-six finishers.

In the men’s 400m dash invitational, senior Nick Harold was third in just a shade under 50 second (49.99), while freshman Ida Fillingsnes was sixth in the women’s 800m invitational with a personal-best 2:13.84 mark.

“Ida looked very strong today,” said Robinson. “Overall, we as a team performed well under the circumstances today, but it wasn’t quite what I had envisioned for this meet. Still solid, occasionally better than that, but not quite what we as a staff expected.”

Next, the Tigers prepare for the final tune-up prior to the Conference USA Indoor Championships, when they travel to Cape Girardeau, Mo., for the SEMO Invite.

“In the past, we’ve done very well at SEMO,” said Robinson. “I hope it’s a good tune-up for us and gets us to the level we need to be at for the conference meet.”