Feb. 1, 2007

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The nationally ranked University of Louisville track and field team will continue preparing for the upcoming championship meets at Friday and Saturday's Meyo Invitational hosted by the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind.

The two-day meet is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. ET on Friday and continue Saturday at 9:30 a.m., and the Cards' primary focus will be on earning the final qualifying marks for the BIG EAST Indoor Championships on Feb. 17-18 in Akron, Ohio.

"There are several key events for us where we still need to earn BIG EAST qualifying marks going into the Meyo," said UofL head coach Ron Mann. "On the men's side, we need to get Soimo Kiplagat qualified in the 5,000m, Chris Brautzsch in the 60m hurdles, Arthur Turland in the shot put, Tone Belt in the triple jump and Shaquan Brown in the 200m. On the women's side, we still need qualifying marks from Heather Trimiew in the 60m hurdles, Rachel Gehret and Jenean Pressley in the triple jump and Kelly Ennis in the 400m."

Overall, the Cardinal men's team, ranked 12th in this week's Trackwire Top 25 and 14th in the USTFCCCA Top 20, has 24 BIG EAST Indoor Championship qualifiers, while the UofL women's team has 27 conference championship qualifiers. The two teams also have a combined six NCAA qualifiers.

"In general, our goal is to be a conference contender, a regional power and a strong national representative, and with those goals in mind, we need those additional BIG EAST qualifiers to contend for the conference championship," Mann said. "Following the Meyo, we'll send a limited number of athletes to the Tyson Invitational in Arkansas to compete on the national stage, while the rest of our team will practice and prepare for the BIG EAST Championships."

Last week at the Gladstein Invitational in Bloomington, Ind., the Cards won one event title and earned five runner-up finishes. Leading the way was junior Wesley Korir with a time of 8:14.68 to defeat a field of 15 other runners in the 3,000m. Turning in runner-up finishes for the Cardinal men's team was senior Arthur Turland in the weight throw, while on the women's side junior ZeNai Savage was second in the shot put, freshman Tarah McKay was second in the 3,000m, freshman Andrea Sabbatine was second in the pole vault and freshman Elisabeth Slettum was second in the 200m.

Following this weekend's meet, the Cards will have several athletes competing at the University of Arkansas' Tyson Invitational on Feb. 9-10 in Fayetteville, Ark., site of the 2007 NCAA Indoor Championships.