Men's Track to Open Season at Kentucky Invitational
1/14/2010 12:00:00 AM
Jan. 14, 2010
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The University of Alabama men's track and field team embarks on their 2010 campaign this weekend as they travel to Lexington, Ky., for the Kentucky Invitational. The meet is being hosted at the E.J. Nutter Field House on Jan. 15-16.
The squad enters this season with arguably the deepest roster in regards to talent in recent memory under head coach Harvey Glance.
The men will have some new international faces on the sprinting team in the Norgrove twins, Fabian and Kemar, as well as another four-minute miler in Joel Rop. Also joining the Crimson Tide in 2010 is the highly-touted signee out of Grenada, Kirani James. James is the reigning World Youth 200m (21.05) and 400m (45.24) champion. Before signing with Alabama, the 17-year-old sensation posted a scorching 400m time of 45.45 to knock world record holder Usain Bolt's six-year CARIFTA Games record of 46.35.
Seniors Tyson David and Emmanuel Bor return for their final indoor season to lead the Tide's distance group. Last season, David earned All-American honors in the indoor and outdoor 5,000m. Both garnered the honor during the cross country season as they led Alabama to its highest-ever finish of third. Newcomer to the distance squad, Moses Kiptoo, also earned All-American accolades this past cross country season.
Also returning from last year is every member from the All-SEC distance medley relay team (Matthew Watson, Emmanuel Bor, Andrew Kirwa and Aaron Stockstell). Stockstell returns for his sophomore season after being a SEC finalist and moving into the top 10 in the 800m in Alabama history, both indoor and outdoor.
In the jumps, the Tide will have three high jumpers who have cleared seven-feet. Returning from last season is Tyler Campbell, a sophomore who finished fourth at the SEC Outdoor Championships as a rookie and ranks as the eighth-best indoor high jumper in school history. All-SEC high jumper Tyler Boswell enters his senior campaign after being conference runner-up in the high jump as a freshman and ranks as the seventh-best outdoor high jumper in school history. After being redshirted last year, freshman Mike Edwards, who has cleared seven-feet many times in high school, will join the Tide.
The Invitational is slated to begin at 5 p.m. CST on Friday with select field events. The meet will resume with field events Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m. before the running events will start at 11:30 a.m. Fans can follow the action on ukathletics.com/track which will be providing live statistics.
