Track And Field To Compete At Southern Illinois

Friday, February 2

Carbondale, Ill.

12 pm

University of Memphis

Don DeNoon Invitational

Photo by: Ben Solomon

Feb 01, 2018 | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

Tigers taking momentum into meet after 19 top-three finishes last week.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Now, with two full weeks of practice under their belts, the University of Memphis track and field squads head to Carbondale, Ill., Friday and Saturday, Feb. 2-3 for the third-annual Don DeNoon Invitational.

The meet starts Friday at 3 p.m. (CT) with the field events. The meet continues Saturday with field events at starting 10 a.m. (CT) and the running events at 11:15 a.m. (CT).

This weekend's meet is the third-straight for the Tigers since the teams' return from semester break. Despite the limited practice time due to winter weather conditions in mid-January, the Tigers performed well in their first two meets and are gearing up for the American Athletic Conference Championships, which are only three weeks away (Feb. 23-24).

Head coach Kevin Robinson
"We're starting our third week of practice since we returned from break. In our first week, we had one day of practice (due to winter weather). We've had limited practice time and limited conditions. But, we have a good group. They're working hard, and they're motivated.

"We're not satisfied where we are, but we are putting up some good numbers. We've broken a few school records in our limited time with the kids. We are doing good things, but our expectations for this program are high. We want to be a conference contender year-after-year, we want to have a national presence yearly. When you have those expectations, you can't settle for having a decent meet. We'll keep working hard and plugging away.

"This weekend, we'll run some of our distance runners, but we won't run them in their specialty events. We'll run our short sprints and hurdles and compete our jumpers, throwers and vaulters. Hopefully, we'll put up some good numbers at Southern Illinois."

Competing Schools
Arkansas State, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Austin Peay, Central Arkansas, Evansville, Lipscomb, Memphis, Ole Miss, Murray State, Saint Louis, Southeast Missouri, Southern Illinois, SIUE, UT Martin, Western Illinois

Tigers Tidbits/What To Watch For

Head coach Kevin Robinson heads back to where his coaching career started – as an assistant at Southern Illinois from 1998-2002. In his time in Carbondale, Robinson's athletes set three conference records and six school marks at the time. He helped coached two All-Americans and nine NCAA regional qualifiers in his four seasons.
Memphis enters this weekend's Don DeNoon Invitational with some momentum after posting 19 top-three performances at last Sunday's KMS Invitational in Birmingham, Ala.
Leading the way at the KMS Invitational was freshman DeeNia McMiller, the Tigers' lone double-winner. She swept the women's shot put (47-1.75; 14.37m) and weight throw (60-3; 18.36m) crowns.
Sophomore Cera Chavez set the school record in the women's 200 meters for the second time this season last week. She ran a 23.97.
At the 2017 Don DeNoon Invitational, the Tigers had 14 top-three performances and won six titles.

National Indoor Performance Lists (top-50)
22. Davon DeMoss/men's 60m/6.69
32. Men's 4x400m relay (DeMoss, Champlin, Lee, Pasley)/3:10.53*
39. Cera Chavez/women's 60 meters/7.39*
43. Luke Vaughn/men's shot put/58-9.25 (17.91m)
45. Calvin Austin/men's 60m/6.73
50. Men's distance medley relay (Ballard, Pasley, Viveiros, Kamph)/10:13.73

Conference Indoor Performance Lists (top-3)
2. Davon DeMoss/men's 60m/6.69
2. Men's 4x400m relay (DeMoss, Champlin, Lee, Pasley)/3:10.53*
2. Men's distance medley relay (Ballard, Pasley, Viveiros, Kamph)/10:13.73
2. Luke Vaughn/men's shot put/58-9.25 (17.91m)
3. Cera Chavez/women's 60 meters/7.39*
3. Cera Chavez/women's 200 meters/23.97*
3. Cera Chavez/women's 400 meters/55.81
*school record