Feb. 19, 2009

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The University of Memphis track and field teams will be heading to Cape Girardeau, Mo. on Friday, Feb. 20 to compete at the Redhawks Invitational.

"This is a competitive meet, but it is not over the top, and every one of our athletes can compete and make the finals," said Robinson. "Because we do not have an indoor facility, it is very important for our athletes to build their confidence by getting quality reps under a roof on a good surface close to the conference meet."

In the final meet before Memphis competes in the C-USA Championships, this indoor track and field meet will be held at the Southeast Student Recreation Center and will be hosted by Southeast Missouri State University. Competing teams will include a men's and women's squad from Southeast Missouri State, Murray State, and the University of Memphis.

"This is our last opportunity to prepare for the conference indoor championships," said head track and field coach Kevin Robinson. "We use this meet as a final tune up for our field event kids, our hurdlers and our short sprinters."

The Tiger track and field team was inactive this past weekend and look to head into this meet strong as this is the last opportunity to prepare themselves in competition for the highly competitive Indoor Conference USA Championships in Houston, Texas on Feb 27-28.

"It is a really good opportunity for our competing athletes to really find out where we're at before we get to the conference meet. In the past, this meet has been a huge event for us because we have recorded a number of lifetime and personal best records at this meet. "

In the last meet at the Rod McCravy Invitational, two Tigers reached NCA A Provisional qualifying marks and one hit an NCAA Automatic qualifying mark. Steffen Nerdal recorded a personal best NCAA Automatic qualifying mark in the weight throw with a first-place toss of 21.56m (70-09.00). Newcomer Aaron Evans set a school record and NCAA Provisional mark in the 800m run with a time of 1:50.18. The women's squad also had an NCAA Provisional qualifier in Sivan Aballi with her performance in the shot put. She recorded a second-place toss in the shot put with a throw of 16.03m (52-07.25).

"If our athletes are ready to go, then the coaches have the confidence to say that we're ready to go," said Robinson. "This s one of the most exciting meets for us to go to. Even with the SEC schools and Big Ten schools, when it comes down to it, at this meet, we always end up having great performances because our athletes are peaked and ready to perform at the conference meet."