Jan. 25, 2007

BATON ROUGE, La. - The Stephen F. Austin men's and women's track and field team travels to Baton Rouge, La., Thursday to begin competition in the LSU Combined Events and Bayou Bengal Invitational. The combined events portion of the meet includes competition in the women's pentathlon and men's heptathlon. The multi events begin Thursday at 3:30 p.m., and will conclude Friday afternoon. The Bayou Bengal Invitational will begin Friday with the track events getting underway 3 p.m., and the field events beginning at 6 p.m.

Both the SFA men and women are looking to improve upon a strong performance at the Razorback Invitational to start the indoor season. Senior Markeisha Edwards set a new school record in the weight throw, while junior Darwin Johnson won the men's weight throw. SFA also had several strong performances from its underclassmen, who produced several top five finishes.

After only one week of competition, SFA already has a couple of athletes at the top of the Southland Conference leader board in their respective events. Senior Cody Clark has posted the league's top time in the 5,000 meters with a time of 15:21.62. Junior Darwin Johnson leads the SLC in the weight throw (58-10.75). Junior Audrey Azu is currently tied for the top spot in the women's high jump (5-6.00), followed closely by teammate Audrey Azu. Freshman Kaitlyn Andrews (46-9.50) is currently second in the shot put, just ahead of teammate Markeisha Edwards (46-1.50). Edwards has also posted the league's second-best mark in the weight throw (55-8.50).

The SFA track and field team returns to action Friday, Feb. 2, through Saturday, Feb. 3 at the Houston Indoor Classic. The meet will take place at the Bill Yeoman Field House on the University of Houston campus.

-SFA-