Track & Field Team Set To Open Indoor Season At A&M Invite
Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2014 12:24 pmFrom SMUMustangs.com:
Mustang Track & Field Team Set To Open Indoor Season At Texas A&M Invite
SMU Set To Begin Its Quest To Win The Inaugural American Athletic Conference Championship
Jan. 15, 2014
Mustang Track & Field Team Set To Open Indoor Season At Texas A&M Invite:
SMU is set to begin its indoor season Friday and Saturday at the Texas A&M Invitational in College Station, Texas. This is the first time since the 2010 season that the Mustangs have opened the season at this event. At that meet, SMU finished 10th of 15 schools and had three individuals finish in the top 5.
Looking Ahead:
Following the Texas A&M Invite, the Mustangs will travel to Houston for the Howie Ryan Invitational Jan. 25-26. The next week on February 2, SMU travels to Lubbock for the Red Raider Invitational hosted by Texas Tech, which is followed by the Iowa State Invitational just a few days later February 6-8 in Ames, Iowa.
The indoor conference season will conclude with the American Athletic Conference Championships Feb. 28 - March 1 in New York City, N.Y. (Qualifiers will then compete at the NCAA event in mid-March.)
Looking Back:
The Mustang cross country team achieved many goals during the 2013 season and will now try to carry that momentum into the indoor and outdoor seasons for track & field. The team accomplishments from this past fall included winning the inaugural American Athletic Conference Championship and advancing as a team to the NCAA Championship meet by placing second at the South Central Regional meet. Individually, SMU had six individuals earn All-American Athletic Conference honors and three student-athletes earn All-Region accolades.
Mustangs Return Two All-Americans:
Junior sprinter Stephanie Kalu and sophomore multi event athlete Lucija Cvitanovic return with All-America honors that they each earned last spring at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Kalu, who set the 100-meter dash record at SMU last spring when she posted an 11.38 mark at the North Texas Classic, earned honorable mention All-America in that event as she placed 22nd on day one of the NCAA Championships last spring. Cvitanovic earned second-team honors for placing 14th in the javelin with a distance of 50.73 meters. That mark ranks her third all-time at SMU.
Sprint Heard Round The World:
Following an outstanding spring where junior sprinter Stephanie Kalu set the 100-meter dash record at SMU and earned honorable mention All-America honors at the NCAA Outdoor Championships; Kalu was invited to compete in the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Track & Field World Championships in Moscow, Russia last August where she ran the 100 and on the 4x100-meter relay team.
"Stephanie is a break through athlete for us as she has taught everyone on this team regardless of their specific event to dream big," Director of Track & Field Dave Wollman said. "She has raised the bar and helped everyone to have greater focus and discipline."
2014 Outlook:
The 2014 SMU track & field team returns 18 letterwinners and will seek to claim the first American Athletic Conference (AAC) Indoor Championship this winter. Director of Track & Field Dave Wollman has high expectations for his team and expects them to be very competitive. The Mustangs are coming off a second place finish at the Conference USA Outdoor Championships last spring and the distance runners won the inaugural AAC cross country championship last fall.
"I feel really good about how we have trained all offseason and we are ready to begin this competition this week," Wollman said. "The cross country championship last fall energized everyone in our program as now we want to carry that momentum over and get even more rings."
Mustang Track & Field Team Set To Open Indoor Season At Texas A&M Invite
SMU Set To Begin Its Quest To Win The Inaugural American Athletic Conference Championship
Jan. 15, 2014
Mustang Track & Field Team Set To Open Indoor Season At Texas A&M Invite:
SMU is set to begin its indoor season Friday and Saturday at the Texas A&M Invitational in College Station, Texas. This is the first time since the 2010 season that the Mustangs have opened the season at this event. At that meet, SMU finished 10th of 15 schools and had three individuals finish in the top 5.
Looking Ahead:
Following the Texas A&M Invite, the Mustangs will travel to Houston for the Howie Ryan Invitational Jan. 25-26. The next week on February 2, SMU travels to Lubbock for the Red Raider Invitational hosted by Texas Tech, which is followed by the Iowa State Invitational just a few days later February 6-8 in Ames, Iowa.
The indoor conference season will conclude with the American Athletic Conference Championships Feb. 28 - March 1 in New York City, N.Y. (Qualifiers will then compete at the NCAA event in mid-March.)
Looking Back:
The Mustang cross country team achieved many goals during the 2013 season and will now try to carry that momentum into the indoor and outdoor seasons for track & field. The team accomplishments from this past fall included winning the inaugural American Athletic Conference Championship and advancing as a team to the NCAA Championship meet by placing second at the South Central Regional meet. Individually, SMU had six individuals earn All-American Athletic Conference honors and three student-athletes earn All-Region accolades.
Mustangs Return Two All-Americans:
Junior sprinter Stephanie Kalu and sophomore multi event athlete Lucija Cvitanovic return with All-America honors that they each earned last spring at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Kalu, who set the 100-meter dash record at SMU last spring when she posted an 11.38 mark at the North Texas Classic, earned honorable mention All-America in that event as she placed 22nd on day one of the NCAA Championships last spring. Cvitanovic earned second-team honors for placing 14th in the javelin with a distance of 50.73 meters. That mark ranks her third all-time at SMU.
Sprint Heard Round The World:
Following an outstanding spring where junior sprinter Stephanie Kalu set the 100-meter dash record at SMU and earned honorable mention All-America honors at the NCAA Outdoor Championships; Kalu was invited to compete in the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Track & Field World Championships in Moscow, Russia last August where she ran the 100 and on the 4x100-meter relay team.
"Stephanie is a break through athlete for us as she has taught everyone on this team regardless of their specific event to dream big," Director of Track & Field Dave Wollman said. "She has raised the bar and helped everyone to have greater focus and discipline."
2014 Outlook:
The 2014 SMU track & field team returns 18 letterwinners and will seek to claim the first American Athletic Conference (AAC) Indoor Championship this winter. Director of Track & Field Dave Wollman has high expectations for his team and expects them to be very competitive. The Mustangs are coming off a second place finish at the Conference USA Outdoor Championships last spring and the distance runners won the inaugural AAC cross country championship last fall.
"I feel really good about how we have trained all offseason and we are ready to begin this competition this week," Wollman said. "The cross country championship last fall energized everyone in our program as now we want to carry that momentum over and get even more rings."