Feb. 14, 2008

SPARTANBURG, S.C. - The USC Upstate men's and women's track and field teams will travel to Clemson for the third time this indoor track season as they compete in the Tiger Indoor Invitational Friday, February 15 and Saturday, February 16. This will be the last meet for Upstate before the Atlantic Sun Indoor Championships on February 29-March 1 at Johnson City, Tenn.

"This is our last tune up before the conference meet and we just want to see where we are and improve on what we have done so far this season," USC Upstate track and field head coach Jimmy Stephens said.

Over 28 schools will be participating in the meet including fellow Atlantic Sun Conference schools Gardner-Webb, Jacksonville, Kennesaw State and North Florida. Other schools include South Carolina, Alabama, Marshall, Appalachian State, Coastal Carolina, Georgia and College of Charleston.

The meet kicks off Friday at 5 p.m. with the men's and women's shot put and long jump and preliminary races in the men's and women's 60 meter dash and 60 meter hurdles. The meet will conclude on Saturday starting at 10 a.m. with events including the men's pole vault, men's and women's weight throw, high jump, triple jump, 200 meters, 400 meters, 800 meters, mile run, 3000 meters, 1600 meter relay, and the finals of the men's and women's 60 meter dash and 60 meter hurdles.

Stephens views this weekend as a chance may some progress against competition from the Atlantic Sun.

"As a new team, we need to make a statement that we're for real and that we can make a lot of noise out of the gate in the conference," Stephens said.

The spotlight for the women's track and field team will fall on freshman distance runner Emily Tangwar, who is coming off of seventh place finishes in both the mile run and the 3000 meters at the Clemson Invitational January 19.

"Emily has taken it to a higher gear with her workouts recently," USC Upstate assistant track and field coach Ed Schlichter said. "All of our distance runners have progressed in a positive way in the three weeks in between meets."

For the men's team, freshman sprinter Billeto McGee will look to continue improving his times in the 60 meter dash and 200 meters after a good performance at the Clemson Invitational.

"We want to place higher in our events in this meet with better thows, jumps and times so we can get an idea of what we need to do for the conference setup," Schlichter said.