Cardinals Set to Compete at Two Meets This Weekend
March 26, 2009 | Women's Track and Field
March 26, 2009
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The University of Louisville men's and women's outdoor track and field teams return to action this weekend (March 27-28) as athletes will compete at both the Yellow Jacket Invitational in Atlanta, Ga., and Raleigh Relays in Raleigh, N.C.
U of L will have 47 athletes competing at both unscored meets this weekend which feature schools from the ACC, BIG EAST, BIG TEN, Conference USA and SEC. The Yellow Jacket Invitational, hosted by Georgia Tech, has 37 Cardinal athletes entered and is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET on Friday, and will continue on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. The Cards will have 10 distance runners competing at North Carolina State's Raleigh Relays starting on Friday at 7:35 p.m. ET and continuing on Saturday at 10:45 a.m.
"Certainly we got a great start at Arizona State and now we just want to continue to add to that," said U of L head coach Ron Mann. "The outdoor season is upon us. There wasn't much of a break between the indoor and outdoor seasons and it is just a matter of being prepared each week."
Louisville opened their 2009 outdoor season last weekend at the Baldy Castillo Invitational hosted by Arizona State University in Tempe, Ariz. The Cardinals earned 11 NCAA Mideast Regional qualifying marks, won 10 event titles and set two school records.
The Cardinal women were led by junior Rachel Gehret who picked up two NCAA Mideast Regional qualifying marks in the high jump and long jump. Gehret won both the high jump, clearing 5-10.75 (1.80m) and the long jump with a leap of 19-11.50 (6.08m). The Altoona, Pa. native set a personal best in the long jump which marked the fourth best leap in school history.
Others earning NCAA Regional qualifying marks were senior Seidre Forde in the triple jump (42-06/12.95m); junior Jere' Summers (50-09.25/15.47m), freshman Khadija Abdullah (50-07.25/15.42m) and sophomore D'Ana McCarty (48-03.25/14.71m) in the shot put; and junior Lindsey Cook in the hammer throw (187-02/57.05m).
On the men's side, redshirt junior Steven Hnat placed fourth in the shot put with an NCAA Mideast Regional qualifying mark and school record toss of 57-06.25 (17.53m). The Floyds Knobs, Ind. native surpassed his own record mark of 56-08 (17.27m) which he set on April 21, 2007.
Also earning NCAA Mideast Regional qualifying marks were redshirt junior Tone Belt in the high jump (6-10.75/2.10m), redshirt senior Michael Johnson Jr. in the triple jump (49-05/15.06m) and senior Andrew Hackney in the hammer throw (190-02/57.97m).
Gehret and Hnat were named BIG EAST Outdoor Field Athletes of the Week on March 25 following their performances.
"Many of our athletes have their first competition under their belt and we are starting to get into the meat of the season," said Mann. "These next three weeks are going to be huge in determining who all is ready to go for the BIG EAST Championships."
The Cards will return to action on April 2-4 at the 82nd Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays in Austin, Texas.
