- 2009 Results
- Saturday's Schedule of Events
- Live Stats
ARLINGTON – The Tarleton Track & Field teams will travel to Arlington this Saturday, March 27, to compete in the 34th Annual UTA/Bobby Lane Invitational at Maverick Stadium on the University of Texas-Arlington campus.
Both men's and women's teams return to action after having had a few weeks off following the cancellation of last week's Baylor/Dr. Pepper Invitational in Waco last weekend.
“We shouldn't have any problems with injuries this week,” Tarleton head track & field coach Pat Ponder said. “As long as the athletes did their respective training during spring break, we should be okay. The ones that worked out and kept their focus last week should be just fine, even with the lay off.”
Both teams competed at last year's Bobby Lane Invitational and despite below freezing temperatures, Tarleton had some athletes do very well at the meet.
The men's team finished fourth overall collecting 83 total points, just one point shy of fellow Lone Star Conference member Angelo State who finished third overall with 84 points. SMU won the men's meet with 110 points. The women's team finished 18th overall with five total points.
Jared McNeil took gold in both the 1500 and 5000 meter runs last year. He finished the 5000 meters with an NCAA Division II provisional qualifying time of 14:43.96 and was named the LSC's Track Athlete of the Week by the league office.
The Texans also had a trio of fifth-place finishes on the day with Jamal Mays in the 100 meter dash (10.82), Garrett Thomas in the 110 meter hurdles (14.71) and Casey Keeter in the shot put (15.14m).
Three athletes have already set provisional times and marks so far this season, and with Saturday's forecast calling for temperatures in the mid-70's, Ponder feels that more provisional times and marks can be set.
“We have some athletes ready to qualify for nationals and I feel that as long as the pieces of the puzzle are in place this weekend, we could see some national marks set,” Ponder said. “[Assistant] coach Melius feels that he has a few of his throwers that are on the verge of qualifying. We have a few distance runners, including Jared McNeil that is right there. And we have a few jumpers that are looking good lately and they have a chance to qualify as well. If everything stands true and the weather does indeed cooperate, we should have a good a chance as any to bring home some more qualifying marks for sure.”
Field events are set to begin at 9 a.m. on Saturday with running events scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. UTA will run live stats throughout the event and can be found by clicking on the link above.
