Track And Field Preview: Music City Challenge

Friday, February 14

Nashville, Tenn.

9 am CT

University of Memphis

Music City Challenge

Sam Jones, 2019-20 Men's Track and Field

Photo by: Michael Wade

Feb 13, 2020 | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

Music City Challenge Schedule Music City Challenge Heat Sheets

Tigers travel to Nashville for a conference championships tune-up.

Music City Challenge (Live Results)

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – University of Memphis track and field head coach Kevin Robinson calls this weekend's meet a "turn-the-page" event for his squad.

First, the Tigers are competing at a different venue for the first time in the 2019-20 indoor campaign. After three-straight meets at the Birmingham CrossPlex in Birmingham, Ala., Memphis travels to Nashville, Tenn., for Vanderbilt's annual Music City Challenge. The Vanderbilt Multipurpose Facility is the host site for the meet.

But, more importantly, this meet signals the American Athletic Conference Championships are just around the corner – Feb. 27-29, to be exact. The Music City Challenge has more than 20 NCAA Division I programs representing 12 different conferences, including the American Athletic (AAC), Atlantic Coast (ACC), Big East, Big Ten and Southeastern (SEC). Robinson knows some of the nation's top talent are competing in this weekend's meet, and he wants his squad to use it as preparation for the conference meet in two weeks.

Head coach Kevin Robinson comments
"I'm excited for this meet because this is the point in our indoor season when we really get prepared for our (conference) championships. We've been training them really hard leading up to this point, but now we'll take our foot off the gas and let them feel a little better.

"I expect us to go in this weekend and put up better performances than the last couple of weeks. We've really been working with these kids for only three weeks now. We're going to see a much higher level of competition (at Vanderbilt), and it gives us an opportunity to showcase our elite-level talent against the Power 5 schools. It will be good to see how our athletes respond to that.

"My biggest goal going in is to see some improvement. We got some good things going, and we've had some success. I don't want a little success here and there; I want a lot everywhere. Hopefully, this is the turning point where we starting seeing some bigger numbers and better performances. It will be a good experience this weekend."

Competing Teams
Alabama, Ball State, Belmont, Butler, Christian Brothers, Cincinnati, East Tennessee State, Embry-Riddle, Georgia State, Georgia Tech, High Point, Illinois, Lipscomb, Memphis, Michigan, Michigan State, Middle Tennessee, Mississippi State, North Dakota State, Notre Dame, Purdue, Southern Illinois, SMU, Southern Miss, Vanderbilt, Wisconsin, Xavier

Team Scoring
The Music City Challenge is a non-scoring meet.

Tigers Tidbits

For the seventh year in a row, Memphis competes in a Vanderbilt-hosted meet in Nashville.
This weekend's trip to Music City USA is the first for the Tigers in 2019-20, and it's odd that it is the only visit to Nashville this season. The previous four seasons (2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19), Memphis was calling the Vanderbilt Multipurpose Facility its "home-away-from-home." In each of those four campaigns, the Tigers competed in three Vanderbilt meets.
Memphis loves participating in Vanderbilt indoor meets, and it shows in the results. The last three seasons (2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19), the Tigers have set 10 schools records at the Vanderbilt Multipurpose Facility. In the three visits to Nashville in 2018-19, Memphis set two school marks in the men's 5,000 meters (Julian Sanchez-Pinto) and women's triple jump (Saida Burns-Moore).
The Tigers enter the Music City Challenge after a rare weekend off from competition Feb. 7-8. The last time Memphis had an off weekend during the indoor campaign was the 2015-16 season. That break also came the week before the Music City Challenge.
Memphis heads into the Music City Challenge with some momentum. In their first two meets since returning from break, the Tigers combined to post 41 top-three performances and win 18 titles.