Jan. 22, 2009

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The men's track and field team will travel to Fayetteville, Ark. this weekend to compete at the Razorback Invitational on Jan. 23-24. The meet will be held at the Randall Tyson Track Center.

The Crimson Tide will be looking for the athletes to garner provisional and automatic qualifying marks for the NCAA Championships.

"I was really surprised that marks weren't being made last week with that level of competition in that facility although a lot of people really ran well," head coach Harvey Glance said. "Provisional and automatic marks aren't easy to come by and that's why they set them. We did a good job competing across the board, but just fell short of the qualifying marks. To go in with expectations to hit a NCAA qualifying mark the first meet out is unrealistic. If it happens, we'll take it but it takes timing."

Alabama will face two top 15 nationally ranked teams this weekend. Host Arkansas is ranked No. 3 and will be joined by Big 12 power Baylor coming in at No. 14. Also competing from the Southeastern Conference is Mississippi State.

The Tide will be led by Tyson David this weekend as he holds the fastest mile time in the SEC by almost eight seconds. Andrew Kirwa is currently the fourth fastest miler in the conference.

Fellow distance star Abraham Kutingala is the third fastest 3,000m runner in the SEC.

Tyler Campbell will look for another good weekend as he has jumped the second highest mark in the high jump, just a half inch behind the leader.

Alabama has three athletes ranked fifth in their respective events within the SEC coming into this weekend: Ray Jadusingh in the 200m, Aaron Stockstell in the 800m and Michael Nichols in the long jump.

The meet will begin with the men's heptathlon competition on Friday at 11:00 a.m. Running events are slated to start at 6:00 p.m. with the men's 200m race.

Live results can be found on flashresults.com.

"Historically, this meet has always had good competition and attracts schools from all over the country," Glance said. "Arkansas has one of the finest facilities in the country and its one of the reasons we go there every year. Our goal this week is to get better than the week before. We've got to get everybody healthy. If they're healthy, we have a chance of competing. If not, we're going to be in for a long season."

The men will take a weekend off after this meet to get ready for the Meyo Invitational in South Bend, Ind. The meet will begin on Feb. 6 and is hosted by the University of Notre Dame.