Track & Field Sends Athletes to Five Meets this Weekend
2/11/2016 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field, Cross Country
The Crimson Tide sprints, hurdles, middle distance, and jumps groups will travel to Fayetteville, Ark., for the Tyson Invitational and Birmingham, Ala., for the Samford Elite Team Invite and the Samford Open Meet. Twenty-eight Alabama athletes will compete in the Tyson Invitational, twenty will compete in the Samford Elite Invite, and three 5,000-meter competitors will run at 10:30 p.m. at the Samford Open Meet. The Arkansas Razorbacks will host the Tyson Invitational with events running from Feb. 12-13, and the Samford Bulldogs will host the Elite Team Invite, starting at 11 a.m., and the Open Meet, starting at 8 p.m., on Feb. 12.
Alabama's long distance crew will head to Ames, Iowa, to compete in the Iowa State Classic at the Lied Recreational Center. The Iowa State Classic will be a two-day meet from Feb. 12-13. The first event the Crimson Tide will compete in is the women's 5,000-meter race starting at 2:20 p.m. on Friday, and the men's 3,000-meter race on Saturday at 10 a.m. Eleven athletes will represent the Crimson Tide this weekend in Iowa.
The throwers will represent the Crimson Tide this week at the LSU High Performance Meet at Carl Maddox Field House on Saturday, Feb. 13. Eight athletes will compete in four event - men's and women's weight throw and men's and women's shot put. Alabama's first competition will start at 10 a.m. with the men's weight throw.
The Alabama men's and women's track & field teams wrapped up the New Mexico Classic & Multis on Saturday at the Albuquerque Convention Center. The Crimson Tide was led by standout performances by the sprints group. Sophomore Olivia Fotopoulou moved on to the final of the 60 meters and placed seventh with a time of 7.48. Junior Vanessa Clerveaux advanced to the final of the 60-meter hurdles, crossing the finish line in fifth with a time of 8.27. On the men's side, the 4x400 relay squad of freshman Matthew Likely, freshman Isaac Trevino, junior Jacopo Lahbi and freshman Skyler Bowden were less than one second away from taking the title thanks to their time of 3:10.50.
Last week the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) released its February Watch List for the Bowerman Trophy, collegiate track's highest honor, and junior long jumper Quanesha Burks was one of 10 women to make the list. Burks was also on the preseason list that was released prior to the start of the 2016 indoor season. Last year's NCAA outdoor long jump champion, Burks became one of only 13 collegiate women to surpass the 22-foot barrier in the history of indoor long jump competition when she recorded a leap of 22-0 1/4 (6.71m) at the Conference Clash.
As the championship portion of the indoor schedule approaches, the Alabama men's and women's track and field teams are both ranked inside the top 30 of the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Team Computer Rankings. The men check in at No. 15 this week while the women are No. 28. In this week's Regional Team Index rankings, the men stayed put at fifth while the women remained in seventh in the South Region.
Junior Quanesha Burks dropped to fourth in the world on the 2016 indoor long jump list, down two spots from last week's No. 2 spot. Her mark of 22-0 1/4 (6.71m) is now only eight centimeters off the current world leader, Ivana Spanovic from Serbia. Her jump at the Birmingham CrossPlex on Jan. 23 broke the indoor school record and tied the facility record. Burks now owns both the indoor and outdoor long jump records for the Crimson Tide. On Jan. 25, after her record-breaking performance, she received a letter from the Olympic Track Committee regarding her potential spot on the U.S. national team after her mark passed the Olympic A Standard of 6.70 meters. Burks already surpassed the Olympic standard for the 2016 Olympic year with her jump of 22-1 1/2 at the 2015 SEC Outdoor Championships in Starkville, Miss.
Alabama currently has four men and four women that are ranked in the top 25 nationally in their respective events. The Crimson Tide men continue to be paced by its jumpers and throwers. Senior Justin Fondren's clearance of 7-1 3/4 (2.18m) is currently tied for ninth in the nation. Junior Jeremiah Green recorded a season-best leap of 52-0 (15.85m) at the Conference Clash to rank 18th in the triple jump. In the throwing events, sophomore Daniel Haugh ranks as the 23rd-best in the weight throw after his toss of 68-5 1/4 (20.86m), and junior Kyle Felpel sits at 24th on the national shot put list with his best effort of 60-2 1/2 (18.35m). For the women, they continue to find leadership in their junior long jumper Quanesha Burks. The NCAA champion and Alabama record holder is still the only competitor in the long jump to record a leap in excess of 22 feet this season. She is also tied for 16th in the 60 meters with a best time of 7.33. Junior hurdler Vanessa Clerveaux hopped up into the top 25 this week, tied at No. 22 with her season-best effort of 8.29 at the New Mexico Classic. Freshman Stacey Destin has been outstanding in the high jump, bumping her season best up to 5-11 1/4 (1.81m) at the Indiana Relays to tie for 18th on the national list. Lastly, Junior Lakan Taylor moved into a tie for 17th in the pole vault after a season-best mark of 13-9 1/4 (4.20m) in Albuquerque.
The University of Alabama capped a successful weekend of competition at the Randal Tyson Invitational, hosted by the University of Arkansas, with a school record performance by the men's 4x400-meter relay quartet and a victory by Kyle Felpel in the men's shot put, as well as personal bests by three athletes (two women, one man) in three events. Overall, Alabama athletes produced six performances that ranked among the school's all-time top 10 in five events, including the school record relay outing. Former Alabama sprinter Dominique Kimpel ran a personal-best 200-meter time of 23.70 to finish third in the second heat of the event. The time earned her fourth place overall among a field of 55 athletes and was the 11th-best time in the SEC during that week. NCAA Champion Remona Burchell won the women's 60-meter dash with an NCAA-leading time of 7.14 seconds. Kimberley Ficenec ran a personal best 2:05.25 to finish second overall in the seeded heats of the event. Her time ranked second in the SEC and fifth in the NCAA in 2015 for that week. It is also the third-fastest time in Alabama history. The Tide did not compete at the Iowa State Classic, the LSU High Performance Meet or the Samford Elite Team Invite a season ago.
"This is a unique weekend, with our athletes being spread out among so many different meets. But with this being our last scheduled weekend of competition before the SEC Championships, it's important to have both squads as sharp as possible. All of the meets this weekend provide us with ample opportunities and feature a high level of competition."
The Tide will head to the 2016 SEC Indoor Track and Field Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., at the Randal Tyson Track Center Feb. 26-27.
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.
