TOLEDO, OH - After a successful start to the indoor track season, the Rockets will look to carry their momentum into this weekend when they head east to the Golden Flash Gala, hosted by Kent State.
Toledo started the indoor campaign last weekend at the Findlay Oiler Opener with several standout performances. Making her Rockets debut, junior Alex Afloari jumped her way into the school record-books with a leap of 38-7 in the triple jump, which ranks seventh on the all-time performance list.
Freshman Kiah Douglas (Saginaw, MI) also found success in her first showing, as she took first in the long jump (18-11 1/4). Meanwhile, another newcomer, Yuhong Fu (Beijing, China) was just behind Afloari in the triple jump (38-6 3/4).
Junior Amanda Kaverman (Sylvania, OH), one of the squad's top returners, also had a quality debut as she won the 300 in a time of 40.75.
Head coach Kevin Hadsell said he was impressed with the team's performance, and looks forward to the quality of competition they'll face this weekend.
"We are excited to get one last meet in before the winter break," he said. "We had a great opener at Findlay last week and I think we will see some great, early-season marks this week as well. The competition at Kent is always good because of the over-sized track. We will see Kent State, Cincinnati and Pitt as well as a lot of other, smaller schools."
The Rockets have more athletes scheduled to compete this weekend, with the distance runners returning to action following the cross country season as well as entrants in the pole vault and pentathlon.
The meet kicks off at 1 p.m. Friday and continues through Saturday evening. Live results will be available at the above link following the completion of the first event.
ROCKETS SCHEDULED TO COMPETE
60m - Kaverman, Douglas, Phillips
60mHH - Zaper, Afloari
200m - Kaverman, Phillips, Ballard
400m - Woodrum, Jacoby, Morgan, Ballard
1000m - Thomas, Camp
5000m - Ari Fisher, Cholin, Cushnie, L. Fausey, Brisson, Neubacher
Long Jump - Fu, Douglas, Afloari, Kraitchkova, Zaper
Triple Jump - Afloari, Fu, Kraitchkova
High Jump - Sutherland, Jing, Snyder
Pentathlon - Snyder
Pole Vault - Handzlik, Myers
4x400m (A) - Morgan, Kaverman, Douglas, Woodrum
4 x 400m (B) - Jacoby, Ballard, Phillips, Zaper
Contact: Scott Miles
scott.miles@utoledo.edu
