Indoor Track and Field Runs at Appalchian State on Friday

ASHEVILLE, N.C. - The UNC Asheville men's and women's indoor track and field team gets back in action on Friday when the Bulldogs head back to Appalachian State for the Appalachian Open to be held at the Holmes Center starting at 3 p.m.

Third-year coach Jesse Norman is looking forward to seeing how both teams look after the Christmas break.

"We're going to see who did their homework over the break and where we're at during this meet," stated Norman. "It's a smaller meet so we think we have a chance to compete pretty well on Friday."

This is the second indoor meet for the Bulldogs who opened the season at the Appalachian Invitational on Dec. 5. Norman did not take everybody to that meet last month but that won't be the case for this year's tourney.

"We'll bring everybody," commented Norman. "We believe we've improved a great deal from last year and this is our first real chance to prove it on Friday."

Heading the list of returnees is sprinter Natalie Pearson on the women's side. Pearson is one of the top sprinters in school history and went to the NCAA Regional last spring.

On the men's side, Will Beasley should be a Bulldog to watch out for in the triple and long jump this season.