Track and Field to Open 2015 Indoor Season
1/16/2015 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field, Cross Country
This Week: Auburn Invitational
The University of Alabama track and field team opens the 2015 season this Saturday, Jan. 18, at the Auburn Indoor Invitational at the CrossPlex in Birmingham. Hosted by SEC foe Auburn, the meet is held in Birmingham, Ala., at the Birmingham CrossPlex. This will be Alabama's third straight year of competing at the Auburn Invitational. The meet is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. and conclude at 8:05 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
Alabama Looks to Build on Last Year's Success
The Crimson Tide returns two NCAA champions from the 2014 season, sprinter Remona Burchell (indoor 60-meter NCAA champion and NCAA outdoor 100-meter champion) and thrower Hayden Reed (NCAA outdoor discuss champion and USATF outdoor discus champion). Burchell begins the 2015 season as one of 10 athletes on the preseason watch list for The Bowerman Trophy, awarded annually to college track & field's top athlete. While not on the preseason men's watch list for The Bowerman, Reed is listed among several athletes who received votes. Burchell was a semifinalist for The Bowerman in 2014, the first Crimson Tide female athlete to earn that distinction. The Tide returns two men's SEC champions from the 2014 conference meet in sophomore triple jumper Jeremiah Green and senior weight throw champ Charodd Richardson. Eight athletes (six men, two women) who earned All-SEC honors in 2014 return for the 2015 season. The Crimson Tide men are ranked 13th in the USTFCCCA Team Rankings to begin the 2015 season while the women's team is 33rd overall in the first team rankings of the season.
In the Rankings
The Crimson Tide men are ranked 13th in the USTFCCCA Team Rankings to begin the 2015 season. This is an 11 place jump from the team's 24th-place preseason ranking from 2014. SEC teams in the top 13 include Georgia, LSU, Texas A&M, Arkansas and Florida. The women's team is 33rd overall in the first team rankings of the season.
Head Coach Dan Waters' Outlook
"We've had a good offseason of work, and I think we're where we need to be entering the season, in terms of fitness and health. You never know for sure until you line up and compete, but I like where we are in the development of the program. We are getting depth of talent in all areas, and we continue to expand our base a bit there. But I am very encouraged to have a lot of our veteran kids having been in our program for two, three and, in some cases, their fourth year now."
Last Year at the Auburn Invite
Alabama captured two individual titles at last year's Auburn Invitational. Elias Hakansson captured a win in the weight throw, as did Jeremiah Green in the triple jump. The Tide garnered three runner-up finishes last year, as Kamal Fuller (long jump), Sarah Thomas (60 meters) and Alexis Paine (pole vault) finished second in their respective events.
Up Next
The Tide takes to the road for the Vanderbilt Indoor Invitational held in Nashville, Tenn. Jan. 23-24.
Following the Tide
Get all the latest information on the team by following @AlabamaTrack on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. General athletic news can also be found at UA_Athletics on Twitter and Instagram and AlabamaAthletics on Facebook.
