Troy University Athletics
Trojans Visit LSU and USA
4/11/2008 5:00:00 AM | Track & Field
TROY, Ala. - After taking off last weekend due to weather, the Troy University track & field program will split their squad by sending one team to compete in the USA Invitational on the campus of South Alabama and the other to LSU for the Tiger Invite.
The Trojans will compete in every event, with the exception of four, at the Tiger Invite hosted by Louisiana State University.
The meet at LSU actually begins on Thursday with the heptathlon (women) and decathlon (men). Erin Clymer will participate in the heptathlon for the Trojans, while Leander McKenzie will compete in his first decathlon beginning at 1 pm on Thursday afternoon.
The day gets started with O'Darien Bassett, Adrian Culbertson and Lamontrey Stamper in the long jump at 11:30 am. Both Culbertson and Stamper will be looking to qualify for the third time this season, while Bassett will make his season debut. Bassett was the nation's top-ranked long jumper last season until an injury forced him out of the running for the national championship. Chonita Allen, Agata Cichoszewska and Juzil Rudolph also get the day started in the women's version of the long jump - all looking to qualify in the event.
Senior Karla Blankenship will hit the track at 12:30 pm in the pole vault, while Grant Bullington will compete in the high jump at 2:30 pm. Allen and Clymer, who is participating in the heptathlon on Thursday and Friday, will compete in the women's high jump at 2:30 pm.
Cichoszewska will look to qualify this week, after narrowly missing the mark at the FSU Relays, in the triple jump when she hits the track for her second event at 4:00 pm. She will be joined on the men's side by Stamper. The field events wrap up at 5:30 with the men's pole vault and women's shot put.
Meanwhile, on the track, the Trojans will begin competition at 2:30 pm when the women's 4x100-meter relay team of Tawanna Meadows, Rudolph, Shelisia Crawford and Jocelyn Williams will compete for the first time this season as a team. They will be followed by the men's 4x100-meter relay team of Antonio McLeod, Burke Leonce, Desmond Brown and LaMar Hicks at 2:40 pm - looking to qualify for the regionals again this season.
The meet continues until the last event scheduled to begin at 7 pm.
The Trojans will send the majority of their throwers to Mobile to compete in the USA Invitational. Tiphanie Baker will look to improve on her regional qualifying mark of 50.30 meters in the discus in the same event in Mobile. She will be joined in the discus by teammates Shenita Howell and Monique Jordan. The trio will also compete in the hammer throw, the first event of the morning, along with teammate Stephanie Yawn. Megan Young will compete in her first event of the meet at 10:30 am in the high jump, and she will compete in the javelin at 12:30 pm along with Howell and Yawn.
On the men's side, Norman Austin will look to qualify for the NCAA Regionals after narrowly missing the mark two weeks ago at the FSU Relays in the javelin. The event begins at 12:30 pm and he will be joined by teammate Joseph Hicks. Meanwhile, Ryan Schemeling, Michael Martin and Hicks will compete in the day's first event, the hammer, at 10:30 am. Scott Neal and Mike Conley are scheduled to compete in the shot put at 12:30, while Schemeling and Martin round the field events for the Trojans in the discus at 2:30 pm.
Meanwhile, on the track, the Trojans will compete in the first event at 12:05 pm when Drew Horner and Brett Lewis will compete in the 1500 meters. The running events begin at 10:30 am and continue until the last event begins at 3:15 pm.
Results from both meets can be found on www.troytrojans.com no less than 24 hours after the completion of the meets.
