Colorado State University Athletics
Rams track and field ready for busy week
4/23/2008 12:00:00 AM | Outdoor Track & Field
April 23, 2008
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FORT COLLINS, Colo. - The Colorado State track and field team is revving up for another busy weekend featuring a pair of home track meets. The Rams will host the Glenn Morris Invitational, a two-day meet beginning Thursday and featuring the multi-events. CSU also hosts the Jack Christiansen Invitational Saturday as the final home meet of the outdoor season. With the number of entries in the Jack Christiansen Invitational all competitors, officials and coaches will need to be aware of revisions in the schedule. Changes will be posted on the outdoor track and field page at CSURams.com.
"It's another busy week for the team," said Head Coach Brian Bedard. "We are sending two of our top throwers in Jason Schutz and Missy Faubus to the UCSD Triton Invitational in California to compete against many of the nation's top throwers. There is a small crew out to the Oregon Relays to give our distance runners another shot at low altitude with great competition.
"We should have solid competition at our last home meet. The Jack Christiansen Invitational is usually our largest meet with very good competition."
The Glenn Morris Invitational features some of the top multi-event athletes in the region. It is one of the few meets offering the heptathlon and decathlon through the year.
"This is a special year for this meet with Glenn Morris being inducted into the U.S. Track and Field Hall of Fame," Bedard said. "We have a proud tradition of multi-event athletes here at Colorado State dating back to Glenn Morris. If Glenn were alive today I think he would be excited to see our multi program competing at his meet. We currently have two of the top female heptathletes in the country with current school record holder Katie Lloyd and Emily Pearson. Kevin Johnson will be the front runner in the decathlon and will be looking to break the J.C. Track record held by former CSU decathlete Doug Crumb, along with hitting a solid NCAA qualifying mark."
Lloyd and Pearson hold two of the best marks in the nation currently in the heptathlon. While Lloyd is the CSU record holder, Pearson was just four points shy of the record earlier this season at the Texas Relays. Johnson also competed in the Texas Relays and was on pace to break his personal best before an injury caused him to withdraw from the competition.
This season's Jack Christiansen Invitational will again be among the largest. At this time, there are 22 schools sending at least partial teams committed to attending the meet. The hammer throw for both men and women has been moved to Friday night following the multi-event competition.
Both Schutz and Faubus will compete in the discus at the UCSD Triton Invitational. In addition, Faubus will throw the shot put.
The quintet of Kirsten Anthony, Kristen Hemphill, Ellie Rastall, Andres Urbina and Jake Keyser will run at the Oregon Relays in distance races. The meet traditionally provides good atmosphere and conditions for athletes to record fast times and NCAA regional marks.
"We are excited about the opportunity to compete at the University of Oregon this week," said distance coach Bryan Berryhill. "It's the sight of this year's Olympic trials so it will be a great experience for the athletes to compete on this track. I'm looking for some great performances this week as this is our last big meet before conference."
Home meet schedule changes will be posted in the green sidebar of the outdoor track and field page and updated at the top of this story as they occur. The first revision of the schedules is expected Thursday morning.
