ETSU competing in Radford for the second-consecutive year

RADFORD, Va. (April 24, 2014) – The ETSU track & field program will close out an event-filled month of April with a trip to Radford University to compete in the Highlander Invitational, Friday – Saturday, at Cupp Stadium.

Last season in Radford, the Bucs swept the podium in both the men’s and women’s long jump on Friday, and proceeded to dominate in sprints events on Saturday with clean sweeps as well in the men’s and women’s 100 meter dash.

In the men’s long jump, Tyler Stepp (Dandridge, Tenn.) achieved a Cupp Stadium record with a leap of 7.47 meters and a first-place finish, while in the women’s long jump Katerina Vodova (Humpolec, Czech Republic), too, set a stadium record with a first-place leap of 5.92 meters.

The Bucs enter action this weekend after a couple of record-breaking pole vault performances last weekend at the War Eagle Invitational in Auburn, Ala. Sophomore Ashley Kessler (Knoxville, Tenn.) kicked things off for ETSU at the competition in a record-setting manner with a 3.95 meters mark in the pole vault to finish seventh overall. Later, Brett Squibbs (Rock Hill, S.C.) continued his stellar rookie season by breaking his previously set record of 5.10 meters with an even better vault of 5.20 meters to take the runner-up spot in the event.

Action in Radford will get underway on Friday at noon with the women's discus throw. The first scheduled running event of the day will be the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase which is slated for a 4 p.m. start.  

Saturday's competition opens with the men's discus throw and the women's shot put at 9 a.m. Following will be a day chock-full of events including men’s and women’s 4x100 meter relays kicking things off on the track at noon. Action at the Invite will conclude with men’s and women’s 4x400 meter relays at 4:45 p.m.

"This weekend's meet will give some of our student-athletes the chance to do several events as well as improve our standing on the conference lists," said ETSU Director of Track & Field George Watts. "We have a group of student-athletes that will sit out this weekend and prepare for next week. It is very important that we make some improvements over the next couple of weeks."

Meet information and schedules for the Highlander Invitational can be accessed by visiting RadfordAthletics.com, while live results can be viewed here. Complete recaps of ETSU’s performances each day will be available at ETSUBucs.com.

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