TOLEDO, OH - Following a successful showing at the Bowling Green Challenge, the University of Toledo track team treks east for Friday's competitive Great Dane Classic, hosted by the University of Albany at the Armory in New York City.
The Great Dane Classic features 44 women's teams, including Big East schools Seton Hall, St. John's and Villanova. Over the years, it has grown to be the best collegiate meet in the nation on this date in January in terms of the amount of qualifying performances for postseason meets.
"I'm very excited for the meet - it's an amazing facility and a competition that we realistically can win," Kevin Hadsell, head coach, said. "We are approaching this meet with a higher level of intensity than the other meets. We are treating the meet as if it were a MAC meet so that we can see how well we adapt to that sense of urgency you feel in a championship setting."
Toledo scored 18.75 points at last year's Classic to finish 14th out of 41 teams. Audra Brown was the Rockets' top finisher at the meet, posting a second-place finish in the 5K (18:16.73). Karen Sovacool, Lindsay Toussant and Julie Snyder posted sixth-place finishes for the Rockets in the mile, 3000m and long jump, respectively.
Last Saturday, the Rockets scored 62 points to finish fourth at the Bowling Green Challenge. The meet was highlighted by victories from Amanda Kaverman (400-meter dash) and Jaime Gittens (triple jump), while the Rockets also placed four other athletes in the top-seven in the triple jump. Michelle Sutherland was also a top point-scorer for Toledo as she took third in the high jump.
ROCKETS SCHEDULED TO COMPETE
55M - Kaverman
200M - Jacoby, Kaverman, Morgan
400M - Jacoby, Morgan, Woodrum
1000M - Camp, Thomas
Mile - Ari Fisher, Sovacool, Studer
3000M - Bornhorst, Brisson, Kertesz, Toussant
5000M - Brown, Condron, Cushnie, Sztykiel
55HH - Afloari, Snyder, Zaper
4000M DM - Sovacool, Woodrum, Jacoby, Ari Fisher
HJ - Afloari, Snyder, Sutherland, Zaper
LJ - Afloari, Douglas, Kraitchkova, Snyder, Zaper
TJ - Afloari, Bollin, Fu, Gittens, Kraitchkova
Weight - Nadolny
Contact: Scott Miles
scott.miles@utoledo.edu
