Feb. 28, 2008

SPARTANBURG, S.C. - The USC Upstate men's and women's track and field teams complete their indoor season this Friday and Saturday, February 29-March 1, as they travel to Johnson City, Tennessee for the Atlantic Sun Conference Indoor Championships, a meet that the Spartans have targeted and been preparing for all season.

"We're excited to see what our teams can do against the A-Sun and we're going to try to get things rolling for us," USC Upstate track and field head coach Jimmy Stephens said.

The meet will begin at 8:30 a.m. Friday with scheduled events including the men's heptathlon, women's pentathlon, men's pole vault, women's high jump and the men's and women's 60 meter dash trials, 60 meter hurdles trials, long jump, 3000 meters, shot put and distance medley. The meet will conclude on Saturday starting at 8:40 a.m. with events including the conclusion of the men's heptathlon and the finals of the men's and women's 60 meter dash and 60 meter hurdles as well as women's pole vault, men's high jump and men's and women's weight throw, triple jump, mile run, 200 meters, 400 meters, 5000 meters and 1600 meter relay.

Leading the women's team will be freshman distance runner Emily Tangwar, who will be trying to score event wins for Upstate in the mile run, 3000 meters and 5000 meters. Freshman sprinter Kiah White will also be looking for big things this weekend when she competes in the 200 and 400 meter races.

"We have some athletes who, I think, can really make some noise this weekend," Stephens said. "We're looking for Emily to place high in all of her events and some of our guys could bring home some top performances."

On the men's side, versatile freshman athlete Perrish Goggins, junior Marc Wartenberger and sophomore Adam Brownlee will be competing for the first time this season in the men's heptathlon, which is made of seven different track and field events. Goggins will also be competing in the men's high jump and triple jump.

Sophomore sprinter Billeto McGee has ran consistent races this season and will put himself to the test in the 60 meter dash and the 200 meters.

Also, for the first time this season, Upstate men and women will be competing in the distance medley relay where races of 1200, 400, 800 and 1600 meter increments are run in a relay format. Running for the women will be freshman Sheliah Williams (1200), freshman Adrienne Singletary (400), freshman Ashley Moore (800) and junior Maria Ruvalcaba Trigueros (1600). Running for the men will be sophomore Matt Henderson (1200), sophomore Mack Reed (400), junior Kevin Brabham (800) and junior Brent Durden (1600).

For Stephens, guiding his team from its starting point through its first indoor season has been quite a journey.

"We've worked very hard to make this happen. Going from no athletes to the team we now have hasn't been an easy road, but we're here and we want to see where we stack up," Stephens said.

"About 80 percent of team is made up of freshman and this meet will be one of the biggest learning experiences we'll have this season."

Atlantic Sun Indoor Championships Event Schedule

Atlantic Sun Indoor Championships Heat Sheets