Jan. 17, 2008

KENNESAW, Ga. - The Kennesaw State women's indoor tack and field team will travel to Johnson City, Tenn. this weekend to participate in the Niswonger Invitational. The two day meet will feature four of KSU's Atlantic Sun Conference rivals including host East Tennessee State University.

Coming off of their impressive top three sweep of the three kilometer race at the Tar Heel Invitational the Owl's distance group will be led by Atlantic Sun Indoor Athlete of the Week Erin Sutton. She will be joined by runners Britany Reilly, Lorena Jaime, Mackenzie Howe and Katie Charles in both the five kilometer and three kilometer races.

"The women are doing really well," said distance coach Jason Waters. "Many of them have taken their success from the cross country season and carried it over to the indoor season. This will be the first meet that we will be running a 5k. It's a totally different race from the 3k but I expect our ladies to answer the challenge and turn in another top performance."

In sprint events the Owls will be led by sophomore Lakeshia Stinson who currently holds the fastest time in the A-Sun in the 60 meter hurdles. She is closely followed by junior Shantela Davis who holds the second fastest time in the 60m hurdles and will also compete in the 60m dash this weekend.

In field events, the Owls are looking for strong performance by freshman Jessica Lumpkin who has broken school records in the shot put and the weight throw during the past two meets. Lumpkin currently has the second longest weight throw distance in the A-Sun this season. This weekend she will be facing ETSU's Zachlynn Blackburn, who currently holds the top spot for ETSU.

The Niswonger Invitational will begin at 10 a.m. on Friday and continue all day on Saturday. The Owls will return to the same facility five weeks later for the A-Sun Indoor Track & Field Championships.