RU TRACK & FIELD OPENS OUTDOOR SEASON AT WAKE FOREST INVITATIONAL

Friday, March 15

Winston-Salem, N.C.

All Day

Radford University

Wake Forest Invitational

Photo by: Todd Drexler

RU TRACK & FIELD OPENS OUTDOOR SEASON AT WAKE FOREST INVITATIONAL

3/14/2013 3:25:00 PM | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field, Track & Field

RADFORD, Va. – For the fourth straight season, the Radford track & field teams will kickoff their outdoor season at the Wake Forest Invitational.

The women look to improve off of last season's fifth place showing in the Big South Outdoor Championships while the men will look to comeback from last year's sixth place finish.

Last year at this event, Vincent Wyatt won the 110 meters hurdles by .30 of a second while Joseph Betts posted a second place finish in the 200 meter dash, and third in the 100 meter dash.

SPRINTS/RELAYS
Athletes to Watch… Senior Kaise White leads the men's squad in the sprints as an all-conference selection in the 400m and the 4x400m, and he also owns the seventh fastest time at Radford in the 400m.

Betts currently holds the record in the 200m at 21.26, which he achieved last spring at the Carolina's Cup. He also has the second and fourth fastest time in the 100m.

On the women's side, junior Lakei Crews will be relied on, as she owns two top-10 times in program history in the 100m while senior Kayla Christian posted two top-5 finishes in the 200m and a runner-up finish in the 100m.

HURDLES
Athletes to Watch… Wyatt holds a strong presence in this area. An all-conference selection in the 110m hurdles, Wyatt currently holds the 110m hurdles record at 14.01, which was set at this event last year.

Junior Amber Church has three of the top-5 times in Radford history with her personal best of 14.04 set last year at the Carolina's Cup. Classmate Courtni Pannell has four top-10 times in the program's history while grabbing an all-conference selection in the 100m hurdles two years ago for the Highlanders.

THROWS
Athletes to Watch… Senior Justin Smith leads the men's team after redshirting last outdoor season. He is a two-time all-conference honoree, and holds the second longest throw in the shot put at 16.19m/53-01.50. Classmate Curtis Hodge also plans to make an impact after redshirting last spring.

On the women's side freshman Ashlen Veatch hopes to continue her strong performance from the indoor season while Desi Simmons and Jazmine Banks will also look to contribute. Banks has a career-best 12.80m in the shot put while Simmons had a top-5 showing in the Carolina's Cup last spring in the shot put with a distance of 11.85m. Simmons also had a trio of top-10 performances at the Highlander Invitational in the shot put, discus and hammer throw.

JUMPS/MULTI'S
Athletes to Watch… Senior Phillip Hovatter is the record holder for the decathlon with 5,990 points set at the Big South Championships two years ago as he redshirted last outdoor season. Hovatter also holds the seventh best distance in the program in the long jump at 7.21m/23-08.00. Freshman Cory Dunn is expected to make an impact right away as he posted a top-10 finish in the triple jump (13.52m) during the indoor season. Sophomore Travis Hudson, who was an indoor all-conference selection in the high jump last winter will be looked upon to lead the Highlanders in the high jump this spring.

For the women, Christian is expected to continue her performance after a strong indoor season in the long jump. She also has the seventh best distance in the long jump at Radford (5.62m/18-05.25). Sophomore Jamiecka Baker, who earned indoor all-conference accolades in the long jump this winter, posted five top-10 finishes last season that included two top-5 finishes at the Carolina's Cup in the high jump and triples jumps.