BOSTON – After a successful home opener, the Boston University men’s and women’s indoor track and field teams return to the Track and Tennis Center to host their annual Terrier Invitational beginning on Friday, Jan. 26. The women’s portion of the meet will start on Friday at 2:30 p.m., and the men will begin competition the next day, starting at 11 a.m. The Terrier Invitational attracts thousands of athletes hailing from New England, the mid-Atlantic, the deep South and the far West.

Competition will start with the field events on both days. The women’s field events will get underway with the pole vault at 3:30 p.m., followed by the long jump, high jump, triple jump, weight throw and shot put. The men will follow the same order of events, beginning at 11 a.m. on Saturday.

At approximately 2:15 p.m. on Friday, and 11:15 on Saturday, the track events will begin. The Terriers will look to continue their string of top-ten finishes in events such as the 200 meter dash, the 400-, 500- and 800-meter races, hurdles trials, the mile run, the 3000- and 5000-meter races and the 4x400 relay. The women will be the sole participators in the DMR, while the men will race the 1000 meters additionally. Races for both days are set to begin continuously begin every 20 minutes. The 500-meter race will close out competition both days.

The Terriers are expected to show well in the meet. At 3:10 p.m. on Friday, senior Marisa Ryan will square off in the 3000 meters against no fewer than five All-Americans. Ryan will be aiming to post a NCAA qualifying mark and look to break BU’s record time of 9:16.66 in the race.

Around 4 p.m., junior Tahari James will be attacking the long jump, looking to improve upon a 20-feet distance, a feat she accomplished several times last spring during the outdoor season. James’ primary event, in which she qualified for the NCAA Championships last year, is the triple jump. That competition is set to begin around 7 p.m. James holds BU’s indoor record for the jump at 43’1”.

The men have also created some exciting story lines for Saturday’s competition. Four Terriers hold personal bests for the 200 meters at under 21 seconds. In the 400, three athletes have completed the race in under 46.00 seconds. Those times are national and international standard marks. For the 800-meter race, four athletes have times under 1:50, the common benchmark standard for the national championships.

In the mile run, the men will faceoff against stiff competition. Beginning at 3:10 p.m., junior David Proctor and senior Nick Goodman will compete in the mile against Max Smith of Providence College, who holds the facility record for the event at 3:59.4. Former U.S. mile champion, Grant Robson, who has repeatedly broken four minutes in the run, will also compete.

The Terriers are coming off a strong showing at their home opener on Jan. 17. Both the men’s and women’s teams combined for 11 first-place finishes, as the men defeated Boston College and the women beat out both Sacred Heart and UMass during the quad-meet. Goodman and Ryan paced the men’s and women’s teams, respectively, with two first-place finishes apiece. Goodman was the sole athlete to finish the 800-meter race in under two minutes, completing the race in 1:58.51. He also took the mile with a run of 4:13.28. Ryan also paced the mile, winning in a time of 4:50.61. She added another top finish in the 3000 with a time of 9:56.12.

For their efforts, Goodman and Ryan both earned American East Track Performer of the Week honors.

Last year at the Terrier Invitational, Proctor placed highest for his team, coming in third in the 1000-meter run with a time of 2:22.46. The women showed strong at the annual meet, as Abbey Sadowski took second in the mile run (4:46.85) and James placed second in the long jump (6.02). Three of the women qualified for the ECAC Championships, as Christine Laakso placed sixth in the 5000-meter race with a time of 16:49.66 and in the 3000 meters, Ryan took sixth place (9:29.87) and Jessica Cickay placed 13th with a time of 9:41.77.

For a map and directions to the Track and Tennis Center, pleas click here. The schedule of events for both days can be seen below.

 Women: Schedule for Friday, Jan. 26, 2007

Men: Schedule for Saturday, Jan. 27, 2007