Track & Field Heads to Arkansas to Participate in Tyson Invitational
Feb. 14, 2008
CORAL GABLES – The Miami track and field teams will travel Fayetteville, Ark., where they will take part in the Tyson Invitational in the Randal Tyson Track Center on the campus of the University of Arkansas.
The meet kicks off at 9 a.m. on Friday and will continue on Saturday at 10 a.m. This years Tyson Invitational will feature 88 different men’s and women’s teams.
The Miami women are coming off a successful meet at the Virginia Tech Elite, highlighted by two wins from junior All-American Krista Simkins, who took wins in the 200 and 400-meter dashes.
With the strong overall performance last week the team jumped 24 spots in the USTFCCCA Poll to no. 17.
Simkins will look to better her marks this weekend in both the 200 and 400-meter dashes where she ranks ninth and third in the nation respectively.
Ti’erra Brown is currently the no. 13 60-meter hurdler in the nation and the highest ranked freshman. Brown intends to better her time of time of 8.31 before the ACC Indoor Championships in two weeks.
The freshman will also run in the 4X400-meter invitational relay, joining Takecia and Tameka Jameson. The freshmen trio will join Simkins as they look to improve on the no. 6 time in the country.
Senior Khadija Talley has one more opportunity to improve her provisional marks in the shot put, where she ranks 22nd and the weight throw (20th).
The men’s team continues to be led by three-time All-American Tim Harris, who in his first attempt of the season ran an NCAA provisional time of 1:50.34 in the 800-meters. The senior will be joined in that event by teammates Richard Bernard and Patrick O’Donnell.
Joining Harris in the winners circle last week was Les Bradley and Elan Daviglus. Bradley won the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.01 at the Virginia Tech Elite and the Daviglus won the high jump with a mark of 2.07m. Both student athletes will aim to better those marks in the huge Tyson Invite field.
Freshman Demarcus Vandyke impressed the coaching staff with sub seven second run in the 60-meter dash a week ago, and will try to best that time along with Bruce Johnson Khalil Jones and Damien Berry.
After the two-day event the track and field teams will have two weeks to prepare for the ACC Indoor Championships in Chapel Hill, N.C. Feb 28-March 1.
