Feb. 5, 2010
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- The Samford University track and field team will jump back into indoor competition Saturday, Feb. 6, as it participates in the Middle Tennessee State Invitational. The one-day event will begin at 10 a.m. with the men's and women's weight throw while the one mile relay will close out competition at 3:40 p.m.
The Bulldogs have had two weeks off after their stellar showing in the first competition of the season at the Niswonger Invitational on Feb. 22-23. The Samford men broke six school records while dominating the pole vault event by sweeping the top three spots. The women also placed eight in the top 10 of their respective events.
Samford head coach Rod Tiffin was pleased with how his team performed two weeks ago but knows that there is a long road ahead and mistakes to be corrected before the Southern Conference Indoor Championships at the end of February. However, he feels his team has put in a lot of work during this break in competition and is ready to compete once again.
"I feel that we have worked hard for the last two weeks and should be better prepared to clean-up our mistakes from the first competition," Tiffin said. "We are looking to the conference championship but this should be another weekend to let us know where we are and what we need to do."
Along with host team Middle Tennessee State, Samford will go head-to head with Arkansas State, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Eastern Kentucky, Milligan College, Tennessee State and Western Kentucky.
Tiffin said that he tries to get his athletes to focus on themselves as their competition instead of the other teams that are competing in the event. If they can strive to better themselves and compete the way the know how then success will surely follow.
"The competition is not really the issue this weekend," Tiffin said. "Our focus will be and always is inward. If we compete the way we can and the way we expect then it will be a successful meet."
The competition will start with the weight throw at 10 a.m. followed by the long jump and pole vault at 10:30 a.m. High jump and shot put will begin at approximately 11 a.m., with the triple jump following the long jump. At 1 p.m., the mile run will kick off before the 400 meters at 1:20 p.m. Twenty minutes later, the high hurdle and 55 meter trials will begin followed by the finals of those events. At 2:30 p.m., the 800 meters will start followed by the 200 meters at 2:50 p.m. The 3000 meters will start at 3:10 p.m. followed by the one-mile relay at 3:40 p.m., to close out the day.
A full recap and results will be available upon completion of the day's events on www.samfordsports.com.
