Track and Field Preview: Vanderbilt Opener

Saturday, December 1

Nashville, Tenn.

All Day

University of Memphis

Vanderbilt Opener

DeeNia McMiller, 2017-18 Women's Track And Field

Photo by: Joe Murphy

Nov 30, 2018 | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

Vanderbilt Opener Schedule Vanderbilt Opener Start List

Tigers kick off 2018-19 campaign in Nashville Saturday.

Live Results

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The University of Memphis track and field team kicks off its 2018-19 indoor season Saturday at the Vanderbilt Opener in Nashville, Tenn. The action begins Saturday at 10 a.m. (CT) at the Vanderbilt Multipurpose Facility, and the meet runs until the early evening.

Entering the 2017-18 season, head coach Kevin Robinson was excited in that the Tigers returned a lot of experience – enough to challenge for a conference championship. He was correct, as the Memphis men's squad took second place at the 2018 American Athletic Conference Indoor Championships.

This season, Robinson is excited for a different reason. The 2018-19 squad has a lot of new faces, and he's ready to see what he has after an entire semester of training that began at the end of August.

Head coach Kevin Robinson comments
"This meet serves a couple of purposes. First, it is a good opportunity for the freshman and other newcomers to compete and see where they're at, see how they compete, see how they handle the situation. It allows me to get a better understanding of my new group and how effective our fall training was and what we need to address heading into the spring. Second, this meet is something for the team to look forward to. They train all fall, and the meet gives them that 'light at the end of the tunnel,' something to focus on.

"It's always exciting to get the season kicked off, especially for our younger performers. We have a lot of first-timers competing for the women's team Saturday. I'm just excited to go compete against someone other than ourselves and get after it."

Team Scoring
The 2018 Vanderbilt Opener is a non-scoring meet.

Schools Competing
Austin Peay, Belmont, Berry, Bryan, Campbellsville, Cumberlands, Kentucky Wesleyan, Lindsey Wilson, Little Rock, McKendree, Memphis, Mercer, Middle Tennessee, Murray State, Southern Indiana, Tennessee State, Tennessee Tech, Tennessee Wesleyan, Trevecca Nazarene, Vanderbilt, Western Kentucky

Tigers Tidbits

This is the fifth-straight year Memphis opens the indoor portion of its schedule at the Vanderbilt Opener. The annual meet is in its sixth season.
Saturday's meet is the first of three the Tigers are competing in at Vanderbilt during the indoor season. Memphis also travels to Nashville Jan. 18-19 for the Vanderbilt Invitational and Feb. 8-9 for the Music City Challenge.
The Tigers are only taking 39 members of their squad (15 men/24 women) to Nashville. Memphis is competing primarily in the field events, short sprints, hurdles and relays.
As they have done the last two indoor seasons, many of the Memphis distance runners are not competing in Saturday's opener. The 2018 cross country season ended in mid-November at the NCAA South Region Championships. The men's team finished the 2018 campaign ranked No. 15 in the U.S. Track and Field/Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) South Region poll.
Memphis' 2018 indoor all-conference performers competing Saturday are: Noah Agnew (men's high jump), Saida Burns-Moore (women's high jump), Davon DeMoss (men's 4x400m relay), DeeNia McMiller (women's weight throw) and Adam Neelly (men's shot put).

Collegiate Debuts
Rosie Cicmanec (W-HJ), Dionna Dennis (W-400m), Jamaya Fleming (W-60m/W-200m), Tanalaya Gordon (W-LJ/W-60m/W-200m), Christian Hill (W-LJ/W-TJ), Sam Jones (M-TJ), Charles Nichols (M-60m/M-200m), Josh Owten (M-60m hurdles), Adar Sheere (M-WT/M-SP), Amber Simpson (W-WT), Aisha Southern (W-60m hurdles/W-200m), Kania Taylor (W-LJ/W-60m)

Memphis Debuts
Hunter Miniard (M-60m hurdles), Sunni Sellers (W-60m/W-200m)

Up Next
The Tigers take more than six weeks off from competition for final exams and the semester break and return to action in mid-January. Memphis' first meet of 2019 is back in Nashville, Tenn., at the Vanderbilt Invitational Jan. 18-19.