The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s indoor track team will get a brief taste of the season this week with the Birmingham Southern Panther Indoor Icebreaker Friday, December 1 at the Birmingham CrossPlex.
“What we want to do with this meet is continue the improvement that was made throughout the cross country season,” Chattanooga head coach Andy Meyer said. “Many felt really good and we ended the season with everybody PRing and we wanted to continue that into at least one indoor meet before exams.”
The women have added field events to the schedule this year.
Transfer Taylor Grayson will compete in the weight throw and the shot put. Heptathlete Rebakah Hampton will try her hand at several events including shot put, long jump, pole vault, triple jump and high jump as well as the 60 meter hurdles. Joining Hampton in the pole vault will be freshman Madison Roberts.
“Last year we were just talking about runners,” Meyer said. “This year we field events. Taylor Grayson hurt her back in the preseason, but she is doing much better so we are looking forward to watching her throw.
“We’re using this meet to get Rebekah [Hampton] ready for the heptatlon. She and Madison Roberts will both do the pole vault.”
At 9:30 a.m. CST Rebekah Wich, Emily Poole and Sophia Neglia will run the 3000 meter. The 60 meter dash and Hurdles will take place beginning at 11:00 a.m. Mercedes Bright, Rebekah Bryant and Hannah Salami will compete in the 60 meter dash. The finals for both events will follow immediately with the top eight qualifiers competing.
“Mercedes is really coming into this year working harder that was she had before, so we are looking forward to her,” Meyer said. “She’s done well in the preseason.”
Bright and Salami will both run the 200 meter dash later in the day. Haley Morris and Brianna Nelson will represent Chattanooga in the Mile with Taylor Sawyer running the 800 meter. The meet will wrap up with the Distance Medley Relay followed by the 4x400 meter relay. The Mocs will field two teams in each race.
The Mocs will run three regular season events this year, wrapping up competition at the Southern Conference championships at the end of February.
“We’re really going to use the indoor season as a prep for what we do at conference,” Meyer said. “That is the most important thing. As the season progresses, they will move into their events and specialties. Our goal is to do better than last year. We’re looking for a much better finish and a lot of improvement.”
The Panther Icebreaker begins at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time. Results will be available at GoMocs.com.
Chattanooga Indoor Track Schedule – 2017-18
Dec. 1 Birmingham Southern Panthers Icebreaker Birmingham, Ala. (CrossPlex)
Jan. 20 Samford Invitational Birmingham, Ala. (CrossPlex)
Feb. 2-3 ETSU Buccaneer Invitational Johnson City, Tenn.
Feb. 24-25 Southern Conference Championships Lexington, Va. (VMI)