Men?s Track on Display at Husky Classic
2/16/2008 12:00:00 AM
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. ?? The Alabama men's track and field team heads to the Dempsey Indoor Facility this weekend, as the University of Washington hosts the Husky Classic. Over 1,300 athletes from all across the country will be on hand for a meet which traditionally produces dozens of NCAA qualifying times. The meet gets underway this Saturday at 8:15 a.m. for track events and 8:30 a.m. for field events.
Alabama will join a stellar field of Division-I teams, many of which are ranked near the top of the current USTFCCCA Rankings. Contingents from seven Pac-10 schools will also travel to the Dempsey. On hand this weekend will be representatives from Arizona State (No. 2 men) Texas A&M (No. 3 men), BYU (No. 5 men), Kentucky (No. 10 men), Oregon (No. 12 men), Florida State (No. 18 men), Wisconsin, Air Force, Kansas, Colorado and many others. Other Pac-10 schools include Washington State, Arizona, California, and Oregon State.
Last year's Husky Classic produced a stunning 95 NCAA qualifying performances by collegiate athletes, including 13 automatic qualifiers and 82 provisional marks. Two Washington school records were broken, and former Arizona State runner broke the American collegiate record in the 5k by more than four seconds.
The men's track team competed at the Meyo Invitational this past weekend. Sophomores Michael Nichols and Tim Grier finished 1-2 in the long jump for the second consecutive week hitting NCAA provisional marks of 25-00.50 and 24-07.75, respectively. Senior Brandon Schneider vaulted 16-04.75. Junior Abraham Kutingala ran a conference leading 14:20.34 in the 5,000m.
Senior Michael Cooley won the 200m with a time of 21.29. Three Alabama runners ran well in the 3,000m, sophomore Tyson David, 8:06.17, sophomore Emmanuel Bor, 8:11.49, and senior Augustus Maiyo, 8:11.54. The Tide's 4x400m team turned in a NCAA provisional time of 3:10.31.
Alabama will take a week off after the meet to prepare for the SEC Championships. The meet is scheduled for Friday, Feb. 29 in Fayetteville, Ark.
-UA-
