Alabama
UAB Blazer Invitational
Alabama Track & Field Opens 2018 Indoor Season at UAB Blazer Invitational Friday
1/10/2018 4:26:00 PM | Track & Field, Cross Country
Nationally-ranked Tide track & field teams will debut at Birmingham CrossPlex
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Alabama men's and women's track & field teams will open the 2018 indoor season at the UAB Blazer Invitational on Friday, Jan. 12 at the Birmingham Crossplex. Alabama will enter 16 men and 38 women and compete in the men's and women's 4x400-meter relays and the men's distance medley relay at Friday's meet.
Alabama in the National Rankings
The Alabama men's track & field team is ranked No. 9, while the Crimson Tide women are No. 20 in their respective U.S. Track & Field Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) preseason rankings released Jan. 10.
Alabama is one of four Southeastern Conference teams in the men's top-10. Florida Georgia and Arkansas are 1-2-3. USC and Colorado round out the top-five, followed by Colorado State, Oregon, Virginia Tech, Alabama and Texas Tech. Other SEC schools in the top-25 include Texas A&M (17) and Kentucky (18).
In the women's rankings, Alabama is one of 10 SEC schools in the top-25. The 20th-ranked Crimson Tide are joined by Arkansas (2), Georgia (3), Florida (6), LSU (7), Ole Miss (8), Kentucky (9), Texas A&M (10), Mississippi State (15) and South Carolina (17). Oregon is No. 1 in the women's rankings with USC (4) and Texas (5) rounding out the top-five.
Head Coach Dan Waters Outlook
"I'm excited to get the season underway. We have a good mix of veterans and newcomers across all disciplines. We have some sprinters and jumpers who had strong summer performances competing internationally and our distance corps performed well during cross country season. We've been training hard all fall. Now it's time to see what we have. This should be a good meet."Â
Next Week: Vanderbilt Invitational
The Crimson Tide will travel to Nashville to compete in the Vanderbilt Invitational, Jan. 19-20, at the Vanderbilt Multipurpose Facility. Friday's events will get underway at 4 p.m. CT. Saturday's schedule will begin at 11 a.m.
For all the latest information on the team, follow AlabamaTrack on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. General athletic news can be found @UA_Athletics on Twitter and Instagram and Alabama Athletics on Facebook.
