Track & Field Heads to Music City for Vanderbilt Invitational

TULANE GREEN WAVE
Meet:	Vanderbilt Invitational
When:	Friday, Jan. 19 - Saturday, Jan. 20 \| Schedule, Event Start Lists
Where:	Nashville, Tenn. \| Vanderbilt Multipurpose Facility
Live Results:	Roll Wave!
Twitter:	@GreenWaveXCTF \| #RollWave
Facebook:	@GreenWaveXCTF \| #RollWave
Meet Central:	Roll Wave!

NEW ORLEANS -- Tulane track & field's indoor season rolls on this weekend, with the team competing at the Vanderbilt Invitational Friday and Saturday inside the Vanderbilt Multipurpose Facility in Nashville, Tenn. The meet opens Friday afternoon, with field events starting at 4 p.m., and running events at 7 p.m. The action then continues Saturday, starting at 10 a.m.

ABOUT THE MEET
The Vanderbilt Invitational features a highly competitive field, giving the Green Wave their toughest challenge yet. Tulane will square off against Alabama, Auburn, Belmont, Connecticut, Furman, Georgia Tech, Kennesaw State, Maryland, Memphis, Middle Tennessee, Mississippi State, Missouri, Oklahoma, SMU, Southeast Missouri, Southern Illinois, Southern Mississippi, UAB, Western Kentucky and host Vanderbilt.

"It's going to be the best meet we will have competed in up to this point in time," director of cross country and track & field Eric Peterson said. "We're excited about it. Our student-athletes are going to be tested this weekend, particularly in the pole vault and hurdles. We're going to be in competitive sections, and it's going to give our athletes and staff an opportunity to really get a good measurement of where we are."

LAST TIME OUT
Junior Rebekah Markel rang in 2018 with a new indoor personal record in the pole vault, placing second with a mark of 4.05m (13-03.50) at the LSU Purple Tiger Invitational. Markel's performance tops her previous personal best of 4.00m (13-01.50), which she set earlier this season at the BSC Panther Icebreaker in Birmingham, Ala.

"Rebekah's matured so much," Peterson said. "The first two years here, she was learning technique and working really hard on getting herself strong, fit and powerful. It's nice to see all of that coming together for her right now."

Redshirt junior Emma Newton won the one mile race, notching a time of 5:11.90 to take the top spot. Junior Mckenzie Melius and sophomore Sarah Cella followed behind her, finishing fourth (5:16.94) and sixth (5:19.93), respectively.

Junior Jessica Duckett and freshman Kyah Loyd shined in the 60m hurdles event, qualifying for the finals after dazzling performances in the preliminaries. Duckett recorded a time of 8.46 in the prelims - just 0.02 seconds shy of her personal best - to qualify for the finals, while Loyd qualified with a time of 8.62. In the finals, Loyd finished sixth with a personal best time of 8.51, while Duckett finished seventh (8.56).

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Track & Field Heads to Music City for Vanderbilt Invitational

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