PREVIEW: Track & Field Prepared For Return to ASUN Indoor Championships

Friday, February 25

Lynchburg, Va.

All Day

University of North Florida

ASUN Indoor Championships

PREVIEW: Track & Field Prepared For Return to ASUN Indoor Championships

2/24/2022 12:00:00 PM | Men's Track, Women's Track

Live Results Stream (Day One)Stream (Day Two)

Will Head to Liberty For Second Time In Two Weeks

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The North Florida track and field teams will make their return to the ASUN Indoor Championships in Lynchburg, Va., hosted by Liberty from Feb. 25-26. The Ospreys did not compete in last season's meet to focus on the cross-country season that was moved to the spring due to COVID-19.

UNF has raced in two indoor meets this season and will be making their return to Liberty after participating in the Eighth Annual Darius Dixon Memorial Invitational just two weeks ago. Both teams will be looking to win their first ASUN Indoor Championship in program history.

LAST TIME OUT

Top Marks at Darius Dixon Invitational

Kaley Petrosky improved on her season-debut high jump set at the Carolina Challenge with a mark of 1.64m.
Tariq Lajoie competed in the high jump invite for the second time this season with a mark of 1.91m.

Top Times at Darius Dixon Invitational

Nathan Jubran clocked a program-record time for the indoor 5000m race with a time of 14:01.42, which took down a 25-year-old record held by Stanislav Iordanov.
Aidan O'Gorman also ran exceptionally in the 5000m race with a time of 14:28.30 after breaking his personal-best time by 16 seconds.
Timothy Doyle posted a time of 1:52.16 in the 800m that stands as the best time in that race by an Osprey this season.
Ryan Thomas, Jordan Travieso, Celine D'Anna, and Shawna Woodall made their career debuts in the 200m dash races.
Emma Jane Schlageter and Mia McLain both improved on their debut indoor times from the Carolina Challenge in the 3000m race with times of 10:18.38 and 10:19.42.
Hannah Martin, along with Schlageter and McLain, also made personal-best times in the indoor mile as well.

NOTABLE OPPONENTS

The ASUN Championship meet will include a total of seven indoor teams on the men's side and 10 indoor teams on the women's side, including four new teams joining the conference this season with Austin Peay, Central Arkansas, Eastern Kentucky and Jacksonville State. The Ospreys, as well as Jacksonville, will be making their returns to the meet as well after taking a one-year hiatus to focus on the spring cross-country season.

On the men's side, Liberty took home the ASUN indoor title last season with 11 athletes earning first-team All-ASUN honors at the meet. Kennesaw State finished with a near second-place finish, while Lipscomb and Bellarmine closed out the four-team field from last year's meet. Kennesaw State is currently the top-ranked ASUN team this season and ranked No. 10 in the South region, with Lipscomb and UNF at No. 17 and 18. Liberty and Eastern Kentucky are also ranked No. 12 and 18 in the Southeast region, while Central Arkansas is ranked No. 24 in the South Central region.

On the women's side, Kennesaw State won the 2021 ASUN Championship after narrowly beating out Liberty by five points. Lipscomb and Bellarmine closed out the four-team meet from last season in third and fourth. The Owls also join their men's team at the top of the ASUN, while also being ranked No. 15 in the South region. Lipscomb and Jacksonville both sit inside the top 25 of the South Region rankings, while Liberty is ranked No. 13 in the Southeast.

UP NEXT

The ASUN Indoor Championship meet will conclude the indoor season for the Ospreys, as they will make their debut for outdoor season at the Yellow Jacket Invitational hosted by Georgia Tech from Mar. 18-19.

PIGG'S POINTS

"The fields are the fastest and deepest ever in the distance races, so it will be quite a challenge. Those running have worked very hard to continue to be the best they can become. We are all looking forward to the opportunity to race fast runners on a great track. Our jumpers have also been doing very well and they each have good opportunities to score. It's been a struggle for the women with various issues, so every point will count, as we are pretty lean. It will be a fun weekend and I'm sure we'll see many lifetime bests and great effort put forth from everyone in a UNF jersey."
-- head coach Jeff Pigg