WICHITA, Kan. — Members of the Wichita State men's and
women's track & field teams take to the road to compete in the Jayhawk
Classic in Lawrence, Kan., and at the Boston University Terrier Invitational in
Boston, Mass., Friday.
Shocker junior Aliphine Tuliamuk will travel to Boston,
where she will compete in the women's 3,000 meters at the Terrier Invitational
at 6:25 p.m. Central.
The Missouri Valley Conference Women's Track Athlete of the
Week moved up to third on the Shockers' all-time indoor top-10 list with her
performance in the event at the Adidas Classic Jan. 21. Tuliamuk, the defending
MVC champion in the event, finished second in the race with a time of 9:25.18.
Her time leads the MVC this season and ranks 12th in the nation.
"That's an extremely fast time, but she's wanting to run
faster than that to try to get qualified for the NCAA Championships," said
Steve Rainbolt, WSU's director of track & field and cross country. "So,
we're sending her out to Boston to face a very tough field with some top
runners and see if that can't be the atmosphere she needs to really run a fast
race."
Several top competitors are entered to race Friday,
including Stephanie Reilly, of New Balance Boston, who won the event at the Terrier
Invitational last season with a time of 9:11:24. Providence's Hannah Davidson finished 14th in the
3,000 meters at the NCAA Indoor Championships last season.
About 35 Shockers will travel to compete Friday in the Jayhawk
Classic at the Anschutz Sports Pavilion in Lawrence against student-athletes
from Kansas, Oral Roberts, Drake, UMKC and several small colleges.
The meet opens at 10 a.m. Friday with the pentathlon
60-meter hurdles and concludes with the men's 1,600-meter relay at 8:30 p.m.
Senior Audacia Moore is scheduled to compete in the women's
200 meters and 4x400-meter relay. Sophomore Natalie Morerod, who has sat out
due to injury, is slated to compete for the first time this season.
"We're not taking a complete team," Rainbolt said. "We're
taking a partial team. We've got a variety of athletes that need an opportunity
to run an extra race or maybe they've had an injury and they need to get a race
because they've not been able to compete yet. For one reason or another, the
athletes that we are taking up there need to run."
- Wichita State -
