Spartans Release Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field Schedules
11/5/2008 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
Nov. 5, 2008
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - The USC Upstate Track & Field team will kick off their second season on Dec. 5 when they will travel to Appalachian State for the Appalachian Invite. From there, the Spartans will test themselves at various bigger meets before culminating in both the A-Sun Indoor and Outdoor Champions, where both the men and women's teams will compete.
The Spartans will resume competition after the semester break by returning to Boone, N.C., for the Appalachian Limited. They will also travel to UNC, ETSU, and Clemson before the Atlantic Sun Championships at ETSU on Feb. 20-21.
"The December meet will be an early tune-up to get the athletes ready for training and the season," assistant coach Ed Schlichter said. "We want to see where everyone is before winter break, and then measure ourselves once we return to Appalachian on Jan. 17. Chapel Hill and ETSU will be two of the bigger meets we compete in before the A-Sun Championships. Overall, we're focused and motivated to build upon the success we had last year in Emily Tangwar being named the A-Sun Most Outstanding Runner and Freshman of the Year."
Upstate will begin the outdoor track and field season on March 20-21 at the Charlotte Invitational. The teams will also compete at the Winthrop Invitational, Duke Invitational, Furman Invitational, UGA Bulldog Limited, the prestigious Penn Relays, Duke Twilight, and Clemson Orange & White before traveling to the A-Sun Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Jacksonville, Fla., on May 15-16.
"The most exciting thing about our schedule this year is that the women can compete in the outdoor championship in May," said head coach, Jimmy Stephens. "I believe that we have a strong schedule set up. We added some bigger meets this year to try to better prepare for conference. Last year, our athletes were able to get a taste of college track and field, and this year our expectations will be higher. Our ultimate goal is to compete well at the conference in indoor and outdoor meets and I'm confident that we will have much stronger finishes than we did in our first year of competition."
