Outdoor Track and Field Opens Season at Coastal Carolina Invitational

ASHEVILLE, N.C. ? The UNC Asheville men's and women's Outdoor Track and Field squads make their 2009 debut at the Coastal Carolina Invitational this Friday and Saturday.

Second-year coach Jesse Norman saw both teams show improvement in the indoor season and hopes that continues with the outdoor campaign.

“We accomplished a great deal during the indoor season but we want to build on that during the outdoor season,” stated Norman. “We're hopeful that we can get more points at the Big South Conference meet in April.”

Norman sees this weekend's meet as an excellent test for his teams to see where they are and what they have to do to get better.

“This is going to be a challenging meet with a lot of teams from the Big South Conference competing,” commented Norman. “This weekend will be a good test where we are and how much we have to improve on in this part of the season.”

One Bulldog to watch is sprinter Natalie Pearson. The junior from England finished third in the 200 meters in the indoor meet and enjoyed success throughout the indoor season in the 60 and 400.

Freshman distance runner Emma Bussard has been steady for Asheville in the 3000 and 5000 this year.

On the men's side, freshman runner Sam Maynard took fifth in the 800 at the Big South Indoor Meet and should be a Bulldog to watch during the outdoor season.

Will Beasley just missed scoring points for the Bulldogs in the long jump and triple jump. He continues to improve with each meet.