Trojan track and field begins indoor season

Published 3:02 am Friday, January 9, 2015

The 2015 Troy University indoor track and field season will begin Friday at the UAB Blazer Invitational at the Birmingham Crossplex Arena, the university announced Thursday.

The meet is scheduled to go through Saturday, with the women’s 60-meter dash kicking off the first day at 2:30 p.m. and wrapping up on Saturday following the men’s and women’s 4×400-meter relays at 4:15 p.m.

Teams from SEC schools Florida and Mississippi State highlight a competitive field of more than 20 schools.

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The Gators come into the season highly touted, ranked No. 1 by the USTFCCCA in both the men’s and women’s polls.

The Mississippi State women’s team enters the weekend ranked No. 20 in the nation.

Notable returning runners for the Troy women include Julia Ostendorf and Dallas Worthy.

Ostendorf enjoyed a highly decorated 2014 season, which included setting several personal and Troy University records. Ostendorf will run in the 5000-meter run on Friday.

Worthy, who finished fourth in last year’s 400-meter dash at the Sun Belt Championships, and will race in Saturday’s 400-meter dash.

For the men, Myles Charley and Zach Douglas will both make their returns to the Trojans Friday.

Both runners advanced to the 2014 NCAA East Preliminaries one season ago.

Charley will compete in the long and triple jumps.

Douglas will throw in the weight throw on Friday and shot put on Saturday. In 2014, Douglas set a new school record when he threw the shot put 17.81 meters.

This will mark the first meet for Troy’s new director of track and field, Marc Davis.

Friday will be the first of at least four trips the Trojans will make to the Birmingham Crossplex Arena throughout the 2015 season as they work towards the Sun Belt Championship on March 13 and 14 in Fayetteville, Ark.