Upstate to Compete at A-Sun Outdoor Track and Field Championships This Weekend
5/12/2016 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
Spartanburg, S.C. – The USC Upstate track and field teams will travel to the University of North Florida's Hodges Stadium this Friday and Saturday for the 2016 A-Sun Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
The meet begins on Friday at 9 a.m. with the women's heptathlon followed by the men's pentathlon at 9:30 a.m. Following a break, the meet resumes at 3:30 p.m. with the women's hammer finals before Friday's activities wrap up at 8:55 p.m. with the men's 10,000-meter run. Saturday action begins at 9 a.m. with the final four events of the men's decathlon. The final on-track event will be the women's 4x400-meter relay at 8:45 p.m.
"We have had a really productive season," said head coach Natalie Smith. "We have had several school records broken and going into the championships in many of our events this will be the most depth we have had in certain events since the start of our program. Our men's program is very young and have shown a lot of promise throughout the season. While the women will lose seven seniors I am hoping that all of our women step up and send them out with a great championship."
In their last meet on April 23, the Spartans collected three event wins along with a new school record and numerous top-10 finishes. Essence Jackson was the winner of the women's 800-meter run while Dorian Jones won the men's 1,500-meter run and Desman Martin claimed the triple jump. Kennedy Holton set a new school record in the women's 100-meter hurdles as she crossed the finish line in 14.45 seconds.
Entering the conference championship Upstate has posted the top time in the A-Sun this season in two events. Tanner Saunders recorded the fastest time in the 400-meter hurdles with a mark of 53.00 at the Terrier Relays while the men's 4x100-meter relay team leads the conference with a time of 41.82 at the Charlotte Invitational. The Spartans have 21 top-five rankings and 46 top-10 rankings among times and distances submitted to the A-Sun this season.
"I am expecting to see more podium finishes on both the men and women's side this weekend than what we had during our indoor championships," said Smith. "We have some depth in our sprint and hurdle events so I am hoping to have the most qualifiers we have had in these events after the prelims on Friday night. If all goes well the men's team will have opportunities to score in most every event that we are entered in and the women's team has really seen some great improvement over the last month so we are hoping for some huge personal best marks this weekend."
In 2015, the women's team finished in fifth place after scoring a program-best 86 points while the men finished in fifth place with 27 points. Upstate earned seven medals and set seven new school records.
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