MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama men’s and women’s track and field teams will hold their third and final home meet of the season Friday and Saturday when they welcome seven opponents to Jaguar Track for the South Alabama Invitational.
 
Alabama State, Loyola (La.), North Alabama, Spring Hill, Tulane, West Alabama and West Florida will all join the Jaguars in this weekend’s field.
 
Competition is slated to begin Friday at 4:30 p.m., when the triple jump, hammer throw, and shot put open day one of the meet.  Saturday’s events are scheduled for a 10 a.m. start time, beginning with the men’s javelin throw.
 
“We love to host meets here,” said head track and field coach Paul Brueske.  “I think we’ve got a great venue and a fast track.  It seems like we always have good performances here; our student-athletes like being here in front of the home crowd, so we’re excited about it.”
 
The Jaguars enter the weekend with four individuals who sit atop the Sun Belt Conference rankings in five different events.  Nick Farrell (pole vault, 4.95m), Jan-Louw Kotze (discus, 57.60m) and Connor Smith (decathlon, 6,477 pts.) lead their respective events for the men’s squad.  On the women’s side, Leah Hixon paces the league in both the javelin throw (46.90m) and the heptathlon (5,061 pts.).
 
“Training has been going well,” Brueske said.  “We’ve had several injury setbacks, but I feel like a lot of those people are getting better and are on the path to recovery.  We’ll have a few individuals competing in their first meet of the season this weekend, and some of our top performers will be back in action.
 
“This should be a nice competition, and we’re really looking forward to a good day.”
 
Results from the South Alabama Invitational will be posted on the Jaguar athletics website following each day of competition.
 
Additional meet information and a full schedule of events can be found here.
 
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).
 
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