Bulldogs Head To The Plains For War Eagle Invitational
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Campus will be filled with excitement this weekend as Super Bulldog Weekend is in full swing, but one facility at Mississippi State will be quiet. The Carl Maddox Track Complex will be eerily still as the team travels to Auburn for the War Eagle Invitational.
"We had an extremely successful home meet last weekend, but you can never get complacent" coach Steve Dudley said. "I always tell the athletes to be competitive you have to constantly be better tomorrow than you were today; and in order to do that we have to consistently push ourselves by engaging in tough competition. Travelling to Auburn will give us not only the opportunity to get more track time under our feet, but also the chance to compete against some premier athletes."
Ranked No. 10 in the latest USTFCCA poll, the Bulldogs will travel east with the hopes of improving that ranking and continuing to qualify athletes for Nationals.
"Our goal every year is to be in the top tier of competitors," Dudley stated. "Ranking tenth is a good start, but to realize our goal we have to be in the mix at the end of the year, and to do that we have to get qualified."
To aid in qualifying, MSU will look to the talents of its nationally ranked athletes such as sprinters James Harris and Tavaris Tate, and field competitors Jarrett Samuels and Marcus Jackson; as well as their Top 10 ranked relay squads.
On the Lady Bulldog side, Favian Cowards will start things off as she competes Friday afternoon in the hammer throw, where she currently ranks 20th. Joining Cowards in the quest for qualifying will be fellow ranked athletes Keisha Wallace, Jody-Ann Muir, Rochelle Farquharson and Erica Bougard.
"We have some top athletes competing this weekend, both on the men's and women's side," added Dudley. "It will be exciting to see what we can do and where our efforts will place us at the end of the weekend."
Action at the Hutsell-Rosen Track will begin Friday with the men's hammer throw at 4:30 p.m., and will conclude that evening at 8:15 with the men's invitational 5000-meter run. Saturday morning field events will start at 11:00 a.m., with the women's pole vault, while track competition will start at 1:00 with the women's 4x100-meter relay and will conclude that evening with the men's 4x400-meter relay at 6:30.