Feb. 25, 2010
Arlington, Texas - With six indoor meets under their belt, the UT Arlington men's and women's track and field squad is set for the Southland Conference Championships this weekend at the Mosier Indoor Track Facility in Norman, OK. The two-day event will include 24 UTA athletes from the men's side and 25 from the women.
"We have an opportunity to finish in the top three on both the men's and women's side," said head track Coach John Sauerhage. "I believe we have a chance to challenge for the championship if they have a great showing."
The meet is schedule to begin Friday, February 26 with the first event starting at 8:30 a.m. and continue through Saturday. This year the Southland Conference Championships will be a little different as far as the venue and site. Prior to this season, the SLC Championships took place at the University of Houston. Sauerhage believes last weekend's meet in Norman made his team more prepared.
"We had been going to the University of Houston for 10 years. We went up to Norman last weekend for the Sooner Open II Invitational to get a little experience and we feel like it was a big advantage for us," Sauerhage said.
The men's squad will be led by All-American sprinter Cordero Gray. Gray, a recently named Southland Conference Athlete of the Week will compete in the 60 and 200 meter dash. The junior sprinter is coming off a first place finish in the 60 this past weekend at the Sooner Open II Invitational. All eyes will be on Gray's 60 race, as he is one of the top sprinters in the country.
"I know Cordero will be ready to compete and his race will truly be a national caliber race. I think he is capable of running a NCAA qualifying performance time," said Sauerhage.
Adolphus Jones, Wade Hayes, Ozie Hood, Aundrea Williams and freshman Renan Palma look to finish with top performance marks for the men's side. Jones, is coming off a Southland record in the heptathlon at the Iowa State Classic in Ames, Iowa Feb. 16. He won the event by collecting an NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 5,532 points. Jones' score ranks him ninth in the country.
The women are led by senior All-American Jasmine Walls and a strong group of women runners. Senior Megan Turner is coming off a first place finish and a record breaking 600 meter run at the Sooner Open II Invitational.
"The men and women are going to have to hit on all cylinders. "We don't have a lot of depth to misfire on anything. If we compete like we're capable of, we can be on the hunt in the last day of the meet."
The Southland Conference Indoor Track and Field Championship statistics and results can be found on http://flashresults.com/flashtexas/slcindoor09/.
