Harrogate, TN - After more than a month since its first event of the season, the Lincoln Memorial men's and women's track and field teams will be back in action on Friday and Saturday, traveling to Nashville, TN for the Vanderbilt Invitational. Lincoln Memorial will be competing against some of the best programs in the nation, including a multitude of division I programs including: Alabama A&M, Alabama State, Arkansas State, Austin Peay, Belmont, Campbellsville, Centre College, Cleveland High School, Cumberland (Tenn.), Cumberlands, Furman, Georgia Tech, Kennesaw State, Kentucky, Lee (Tenn.), Lincoln Memorial, Lipscomb, Marshall, Memphis, MTSU, Mississippi State, Morehead State, Murray State, NYAC, Oakland, Ole Miss, Refuge Training Center, Rhodes, SCAD Atlanta, SCAD Savannah, Southern Mississippi, Tennessee, Tennessee Running Club, Tennessee State, Tennessee Tech, UT-Martin, Tulane, Tusculum, ULM and the hosting Vanderbilt Commodores.


"We're really going to figure out where everyone is at right now in terms of conditioning and preparation," said track and field assistant coach Jeff Kavalunas. "I think overall our fitness level is going to be pretty good coming off of a break. It's been a little while since we've had spikes on and been racing. We're definitely going to use this opportunity to identify where we are as a whole as well as individually. We haven't been on the track in over a month. We're just looking for our group to compete throughout the event. The bigger competition should keep them motivated and excited. We as coaches are just trying to establish a sense of self-trust and trust among each team. We look forward to competing against great competition."

"We try not to lump a ton of expectations on everyone, especially early in the season," said Director of Track and Field Rochelle Black. "We've been back for a couple of weeks now with practice and we still have some people figuring some things out. Going to Vanderbilt last season was great for us and I think it will be again this year. It'll be a good eye-opener for us. There's going to be a who's who of schools attending the event, so it will allow us to see where we are collectively. The main thing is that we don't have a lot of expectations. We're not asking anyone to go out there and PR (personal record). We're just asking them to go out there and trust their training, trust what we've told them as coaches, and more importantly, trust themselves and their teammates. Everything else should work itself out. We are in good shape and are going to get in even better shape. This is probably the most fit we've been this early in the season in recent memory. It'll be good to have a large group of participants. We're excited."

FULL EVENT SCHEDULE:

Friday, Jan. 17

9:20AM Pentathlon 60H W
~10:20AM Pentathlon HJ W
~12:20PM Pentathlon SP W
~1:45PM Pentathlon LJ W
~3:00PM Pentathlon 800 W

Friday Heptathlon
9:00AM Heptathlon 60M M
~9:45AM Heptathlon LJ M
~10:45AM Heptathlon SP M
~1:45PM Heptathlon HJ Pit #2 M

Friday Field Events:

11:00AM                       Pole Vault Open                             M
12:00PM                       High Jump Open Pit #1                 W
10:00AM                       Weight Throw Open                      M
2:30PM                         Weight Throw Invite                     M
2:45PM                         High Jump Invite Pit #2                 W
3:30PM                         High Jump Open Pit #1                 M
3:30PM                         Long Jump Seeded/ Unseeded  W
4:00PM                         Pole Vault Invite                            M
4:00PM                         Weight Throw Invite                     W
6:30PM                         Long Jump Seeded/Unseeded     M
6:00PM                         Weight Throw Open                     W

Friday Running Events:
5:15PM                         National Anthem
5:30PM                         5000M                                             W
6:30PM                         5000M                                             M
7:10PM                         200M                                               W
7:40PM                         200M                                               M
8:10PM                         DMR                                                W
8:30PM                         DMR                                                M
8:50PM                         1000M                                            W
9:10PM                         1000M                                             M

Saturday, Jan. 18:
8:30AM Heptathlon 60H M
~9:20AM Heptathlon PV M
~11:15AM 1000M M

Saturday Field Events:
10:00AM Shot Put Open M
1:15PM Shot Put Invite M
1:30PM Pole Vault Invite W
2:00PM Triple Jump M/W
2:30PM Shot Put Invite W
4:30PM Shot Put Open W
3:30PM Pole Vault Open W


Saturday Running Events:
11:00AM National Anthem
11:45AM 60H Prelims W
12:15PM 60H Prelims M
12:35PM 60M Prelims W
1:05PM 60M Prelims M
1:35PM Mile Run W
2:10PM Mile Run M
2:40PM 60H Final M
2:45PM 60H Final W
2:55PM 60M Final M
3:00PM 60M Final W
3:10PM 400M W
3:40PM 400M M
4:05PM 800M W
4:30PM 800M M
4:55PM 3000M W
5:35PM 3000M M
6:15PM 4X400M W
6:40PM 4X400M M

WATCH THE VANDERBILT INVITATIONAL FRIDAY EVENTS: https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/e6c8d3b7-44f9-4f54-9b8d-5826f3957ede?om-navmethod=espn%3Aglobalsearch%3Aresults
WATCH THE VANDERBILT INVITATIONAL SATURDAY EVENTS: https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/2ea540be-f118-4b24-bc6e-638f6d8a1b58?om-navmethod=espn%3Aglobalsearch%3Aresults