Bulldog Indoor Track & Field Squads Head to Big South Meet

By David Pickett

ASHEVILLE, NC - The UNC Asheville Men's and Women's Indoor Track and Field teams make their final indoor meet appearance this weekend at the Big South Conference Championships to be held at Clemson University. UNC Asheville and Coastal Carolina are the meet co-hosts.

Competition kicks off Saturday afternoon with prelims in the sprints and hurdles. The meet will carry on through Sunday with finals and conclude with the 1,600-meter relay.

Third-year head coach, Jesse Norman is excited about both of his team's chances to compete well at this year's championship event.

"Our goal for this meet is to score more points then we did last year and in previous years." stated Norman. "I think we are in a good position to reach this goal."

In the headlines this weekend for the men is junior Eli Chirchir. Last Thursday at the Mountaineer Open, he placed first in the 800 (1:54.62). In the process, he also set a new school record, breaking the previous record held by Jim Phillips (1:55.09).

Raymond Urrutia will look to continue his strong freshman campaign in the sprints as he will suit up in the 60 and 200-meter dashes. He currently holds the school record at 7.04 in the 60 and is third all-time on the Asheville career list in the 200 (22.64).

Melanie Kulesz, a Big South All-Conference performer in cross country, is set to compete in the mile and 3000. This season she has turned in times of 5:14.63 (mile) and 10:34.45 (3000). Also in the headlines for the women's team is Alyska Kalmeijer. She is scheduled to compete in the mile. Kalmeiher has run 2:27.51 at 800 meters this season.