Friday, January 11, 2008

BLACKSBURG, Va. (Jan. 11, 2008) - Competing in its first meet of the '08 part of the season, the ETSU men's and women's track and field team concluded day one at the Virginia Tech Invitational Friday evening from the Rector Field House in Blacksburg, Va.

"It is great for our team to be back in action; especially going up against such a difficult field here at Virginia Tech," mentioned associate head track and field coach Michelle Byrne. "We looked good in a handful of events this evening and hopefully we can carry that momentum into the final day tomorrow."

Going up against top-notch competition is definitely what the Buccaneer track and field team is facing this weekend at Virginia Tech. Some of the programs the ETSU athletes are competing against include: Charlotte (A-10), Tennessee (SEC) and six ACC programs in Clemson, Duke, Maryland, Virginia, host Virginia Tech, and Wake Forest.

With 14 track and five field events in the books, some ETSU athletes have all ready put together strong starts in their first meet since participating at the Appalachian State Invitational back on Dec. 1.

Some highlights on the men's side include Jarrod Burton's (Bastian, Va.) performance in the weight throw. Burton placed eighth in the event with a season-long heave of 55-05.50 (16.90m); which is over a foot better than what he threw in Boone (54-02.75). Junior Josh Cloyd (Telford, Tenn.) competed in the 300-meter dash and finished second in his section (16^th overall). The Telford, Tenn. native recorded a time of 35.20 in the event. Freshman Mike James (Palm Bay, Fla.) posted a mark of 7.74 in the 55-meter preliminaries, which was good for an 18^th-place post.

On the women's side Vicki Currie (Dumfries, Scotland) carried her momentum from the cross country season onto the track Friday evening. Currie, the Scottish sensation, finished sixth overall in the 800 meters. The sophomore runner ended the race with a time of 2:23.87. Like Cloyd, newcomer Judy Johnson (Knoxville, Tenn) also shined in the 300 meters. The Knoxville native finished 11^th with a time of 40.17 in the event.

Saturday's action begins at 9 a.m. kicking off with the men's high jump, and wraps up at 4:30 p.m. with the women's 4x400-meter relay. Live results will be available throughout the meet at http://www.flashresults.com/2008_Meets/indoor/VirginiaTechInvite/.

For a full recap of the day's events, please visit www.ETSUBucs.com for all Buccaneer track and field news.