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Vanderbilt Track & Field Invitational Likely To Attract Numerous Collegiate, Olympic Hopefuls 4/15/2004 NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The reigning NCAA 100-meter champion and a number of former All-Americans preparing for this summer’s Olympic Games are potential competitors in the 14th annual Vanderbilt Track and Field Invitational scheduled April 16-17 at the Commodore track facility off Natchez Trace. Mardy Scales, a senior at Middle Tennessee State and the NCAA champion at 100 meters in 2003, is entered to defend his title in the event on Saturday, providing one of several highlights for the two-day meet that opens Friday afternoon and continues through Saturday. Several American and foreign Olympic hopefuls are pre-entered to compete, including American hurdler Danielle Carruthers, American 200-400 meter specialist Milton Campbell, MTSU sprinter Rosemary Okafor, Kenyan middle distance runner Eliud Njubi and triple jumper Andreja Ribac of Slovenia. The invitational, which has nearly 600 entrants from 23 colleges and 11 track clubs, is free to the public. The meet starts Friday afternoon with field events and all distance races, then continues Saturday at 10:00 a.m. All of the Vanderbilt’s top female athletes, including All-American heptathlete/high jumper Josie Hahn, SEC indoor 5,000-meter runnerup Erika Schneble, SEC indoor mile finalist Ashleigh Wetzel and hurdle record holder Amanda Mullins-Hall, will compete as the Commodores attempt to repeat as meet champions. The 2003 men’s title was captured by Middle Tennessee State. Several Commodore women will be attempting to earn NCAA Regional qualifying marks. Hahn and Schneble have qualified in the high jump and 5,000 meters, respectively. Wetzel, a freshman from Pennsylvania, needs to lower her personal best by two seconds to qualify in the 1,500-meter run. Mullins-Hall, who won the 100-meter hurdles event last year in a team-record 13.51, needs to run under 13.95 to post a Regional mark. In the men’s competition, the 100-meter dash appears to be a top attraction with Scales, a native of Franklin, Tenn., possibly returning to defend his title. He set a track record last year winning in 10.27 over Jonathan Brown of Western Kentucky. Potential contenders this weekend include Brown, fellow MTSU standout Xavier Darden and former MTSU All-American Christian Nsiah of Ghana. Campbell, a former two-time NCAA champion from the University of North Carolina, is entered in two events, the 200-meter and 400-meter dash. Campbell, preparing for the Olympic Trials this summer, has personal bests of 20.47 in the 200 and 44.67 in the 400. If Campbell enters the 200, he could face stiff competition from Scales, Brown or Nsaih. Other top male athletes listed as potential starters are Eliud Njubi, 3:38.16 in the 1,500-meter run; LaBronze Garrett, 49.3 in the 400-meter hurdles; Andrew Osuwu of Ghana, 55-feet in the triple jump, Peter Coghan of Ireland, 13.30 in the 110-meter hurdles; and Kristo Galeta of Western Kentucky, 220-feet in the javelin. |
