|
For Immediate
Release: Tuesday, December 10, 2002 UTPA TRACK TEAM TO FACE BEST OF THE SOUTHWEST EDINBURG, TX-Two home meets and the chance to face some of the best teams in the Southwest await The University of Texas-Pan American's track and field team in 2003. The Broncs and Lady Broncs will host two meets, while traveling to
some of the best meets in the region. The UTPA Open will take place Saturday, May 17th. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi will participate in both meets, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology will also compete at the Angela Procter Open. "Both of our home meets will be smaller meets," said UTPA Head Coach Ricky Vaughn. "The Angela Procter Open will come at a good time, after our opening meet, and before the Texas Relays. Our second meet will be a last chance opportunity for athletes to qualify for regionals." Two indoor meets are on the UT Pan American schedule, the Texas Tech Invitational January 25th, and the Houston Indoor Invitational February 8th. "Once again, we'll emphasize the outdoor part of our schedule," said Vaughn. "With our weather and our location, it really benefits us to concentrate our efforts outdoors. Both of the indoor meets were are going to are high quality meets, that will give our student-athletes the opportunity to perform well and see where we are going before the outdoor season begins." Outdoors, the Broncs and Lady Broncs will start off at Texas-San Antonio's
Whataburger Invitational March 15th. Following the Angela Procter Open,
UTPA will attend the Texas Relays April 3rd, 4th and 5th, the Dogwood
Invitational at Stephen F. Austin State April 12th, the Southwestern
Bell Classic at Baylor April 18th and 19th, and the Drake Relays at
Des Moines, Iowa the final week of April. "Our outdoor schedule is a good, solid schedule," said Vaughn. "The UTSA Whataburger meet is a good meet to get us started. It lets our people run multiple events, and run some relays we don't get to run during the year. The Texas Relays is a very high quality meet, and I think we should have a good group. It should be one of the highlights of our schedule. The Stephen F. Austin meet should be a good one, most of the teams in the Southland Conference will be there. The Southwestern Bell Classic at Baylor is a very high quality meet, and we'll be competing against schools from the Big 12 including Baylor, Oklahoma and Texas A&M. The group we take to the Drake Relays will be competitive, and we will try to get some people qualified for regionals. The Texas Invitational is a very good meet, with teams like Texas, Texas A&M, Florida and Florida State. Our second home meet will be a last chance effort for anyone who is close to qualifying for regionals." In 2003, the NCAA will conduct regional championships at four sites. The top five finishers in each event at each site will qualify for the NCAA Championships, scheduled for Hughes Stadium in Sacramento, California June 11th through the 15th. Student-athletes must also qualify for regionals. Regional qualifying times will be based on the 100th best time or mark in each event nationally last season. "I think the regionals will be good," said Vaughn. "Since we're not in a conference, it gives our people a championship experience they can be a part of. If things go well, it will be good for our sport, and increase participation by allowing more kids to compete at an NCAA championship than have been able to participate before." 2003 UTPA TRACK AND FIELD SCHEDULE
TR-01-03121002 |