By Steve Holt, Sports Writer
Wildcat track and field athletes will see the season’s best competition Friday and Saturday at the Tyson Foods Indoor Invitational at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Ark. The nation’s top elite athletes will be on showcase Friday night for the invitational portion of the meet, and a who’s who of colleges and universities will compete Saturday.
Head track and field coach Jon Murray said his top athletes will travel to Arkansas with the goal of qualifying for nationals or improving previous qualifying marks.
“I anticipate some good performances this weekend,” Murray said.
Four Division II national champions will be competing for ACU Saturday: senior Bernard Manirakiza in the 800 meters and mile; junior Yevgen Pashchenko in the long jump and triple jump; senior Ben Washington in the triple jump; and senior Katie Eckley in the pole vault.
Three women’s middle distance runners will compete in Friday night’s invitational mile. Adeh Mwamba, Trina Cox, and Olha Kryv’yak will race against some of the country’s best milers in hopes of bettering the automatic qualifying standard of 4:51.60.
The women’s 4×400-meter relay team will have a shot at qualifying automatically for nationals Saturday, as will the distance medley relay team. Neither men’s relay will compete.
In total, 27 ACU athletes will compete in 11 events.
The team competition will certainly help Wildcat athletes in qualification goals. Playing host to and participating in the meet will be the nation’s No. 1 team, the University of Arkansas, which has unmatched depth in most events. No. 2 Indiana also will be present, as will No. 4 Texas, No. 6 Wisconsin, No. 7 Florida, No. 8 Arizona, and No. 9 Florida State. Texas Tech, Tennessee, Colorado State, Auburn, UCLA, Baylor, Nebraska and Stanford round out top-25 teams that are slated to compete in Fayetteville.
But Murray said he couldn’t be more pleased with his team’s preparation for the meet after a full week of intense training and a weekend off from competition.
“We had a great week of training,” he said. “Having good weather here has helped us tremendously.”
Tyson Foods Invitational
Participants
Men
* Cory Aguilar – PV
* Marvin Bien-Aime, 200m, 60m
* Delt Cockrell – 200m
* Marvin Essor – 400m
* Tarrant Fuller – LJ
* Elton Garus-Oab – 200m, 60m
* Vladyslav Gorbenko – TJ, LJ
* Lucky Hadebe – mile
* Ricardo Johnson – 400m
* Bernard Manirakiza – mile, 800m
* Nicodemus Naimadu – 5,000m
* Laurant Ngirakamaro – 5,000m
* Martin Okello – 800m
* Yevgen Pashchenko – TJ, LJ
* Ben Washington – TJ
Women
* Angie Aguilar – PV
* Trina Cox – invitational mile
* Katie Eckley – PV
* Val Gorter – PV
* Brooklyn Hunt – 400m, 200m
* Jessica Hunt – 200m, 60m
* Olha Kryv’yak – invitational mile
* Denise Morgan – 800m
* Adeh Mwamba – 800m
* Shawna-Kaye Thompson – 200m, 60m hurdles
* Keva Wilkins – Female – 200m
* Tashia Wooldridge – Female – 400m
* Women 4×400 Meter Relay
* Women Distance Medley
