Lady 'Dogs Return To Action At Tyson Invitational
* Live Results
STARKVILLE, Miss. ?€“ The Mississippi State University indoor women'strack and field squad returns to action Friday-Saturday, Feb. 10-11 atthe Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark. Collegiate action is setto begin at 10 a.m. CT each day.
Almost all the top 25 teams are there, said MSU head coach AlSchmidt. It's as good of a meet as the SEC Championships if notbetter. It's packed.
Joining the Lady Bulldogs at the meet are conference rivals Arkansas,sixth-ranked Auburn, Florida, No. 15 Georgia, eighth-ranked LSU,top-ranked South Carolina and No. 12 Tennessee.
In addition to the five ranked SEC squads, eight other Trackwire 25programs scheduled to compete include second-ranked Michigan, No. 3Texas, fourth-ranked Nebraska, No. 5 Stanford, 10th-ranked SouthernCalifornia, No.16 UCLA, T21st Oregon and Texas A&M, who is tied for18th.
With six freshmen competing at the Tyson Invitational for the firsttime, the Lady Bulldogs look to improve on marks already set thisseason. In sprint events, freshman Antrese Banks is expected to competein the 200- and 400-meter dashes, while freshman Gabrielle Dillon looksto improve on her 7.70 in the 60-meter dash set two weeks ago at theBayou Bengal Invitational. Freshman Marrissa Harris will run the60-meter hurdles after posting a season and team best 8.82 at theyear's opening meet in Clemson, S.C. Andrea Wahlin will compete in the800-meter run.
In distance events, a trio of Lady Bulldogs are scheduled toparticipate in the 5000-meter run. Senior Meggan Hodge, who posted thebest team time in the event this season, will join junior and ClemsonInvitational 5000 champion Mina Thorstenson and junior Joy Griffith inthe event. Senior Zita Magloire and sophomore Annie Falor will run the3000-meter run, while senior Jen McPherson and junior Liz Grube take tothe track in the Mile run.
While the throwing corp has produced strong showings throughout theseason, this weekend's competition presents a challenge for MSU. Shotput school-record holder Nicola Wilson will compete in the event, aswill freshman Emily Sanders. Sanders, who has the top team mark in the20-lb. weight throw, will also compete in that event. Junior ChristinaHernandez will compete in both events.
Senior Lauren Johnson is scheduled to compete in the long jump, whilefreshman Janelle Finley looks to improve on her 37-08¾ mark set at theBayou Bengal Invitational, the fifth-best mark in school history.
Senior Jasmine Walls, the school-record holder in the high jump (5-08¾) and freshman Dot Youmans, the Bayou Bengal Invitational champion(5-06) will each compete in the event.
The meet is slated to be scored as a team event. Live results areavailable via a link on the MSU athletics Web site,www.MStateAthletics.com.