University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Track and Field travels to Marshall for Thundering Herd Invitational
01.28.2016 | Track and Field
THE MEET
Marshall Thundering Herd Invitational
Location: Huntington, W.V.
Date: January 29-30
HUNTINGTON – The UNC Asheville Track and Field teams travel to Huntington, West Virginia to compete in the Thundering Herd Invitational this Friday January 29, and Saturday January 30.
NOTABLES
-Asheville's middle distance squad will look to defend a first place finish in the women's Distance Medley Relay from the East Tennessee State University Invitational on January 15-16. The Bulldogs posted a time of 12:28.22, which placed them second in the current Big South rankings, just behind Coastal Carolina's time of 12:20.45. Asheville's DMR team was made up of Casey Greenwalt, Kayli Nichols, Alyssa Lashway and Sarah Heisner.
-The men's middle distance runners are also dominating the Big South early this season, occupying the top three spots in the men's 800 Meter Run: Blanton Gillespie (1:57.36), Chase Stevens (1:58.91), and David Hager (2:02.38). The Bulldogs also hold the top two spots in the men's Mile Run: Patrick Osborne (4.24.35), Chilton Birdwhistell (4:25.77).
-In the field events, the Bulldogs have five athletes cracking the top 10 in the Big South Conference in jumps. For the men, Camden Coble ranks fourth in the High Jump (1.93), Chris McKoy sits in sixth place in the Triple Jump (12.69m), and Hunter Koike comes in eighth in the Long Jump (6.45m). On the women's side, Argia Gibson sits in fifth place in the Triple Jump (11.30m) and seventh in the Long Jump (5.35m). Nateja Hale is just behind Gibson in the Triple Jump in sixth place (11.23m).
-Asheville has two athletes that rank among the top 10 in the Big South in the 60 Meter Hurdles. Hunter Koike ranks fifth in the men's 60 Hurdles with a time of 9.02 seconds and Kayli Nichols ranks eighth in the current standings for the women's 60 Hurdles with a time of 9.22 seconds.
QUOTABLES FROM HEAD COACH JESSE NORMAN
On the Meet- “We're excited about going up to Marshall and competing this weekend. Counting us there will be 18 teams there, and we'll have a chance to compete with a lot of northern teams that we haven't seen before. It will be good experience for us to be in heats with teams that we aren't necessarily familiar with. Marshall also has a great facility, so it will be a good place for us to get some fast times.”
On the competition- “The big goal for the weekend, is to make sure that we are building on our performances from ETSU and getting better as we go through the season. Middle distance events are going to be our strong suit this year, so we're looking for some solid times for this point in the season. From what I've seen in practice, we are in a good place and we have athletes who are starting to put some things together, from here we just need them to execute this weekend.”
UP NEXT
-Following this weekend's competition, the Bulldogs will return to East Tennessee State University for the Buccaneer Track & Field Invitational next weekend, February 5-6.
