MOBILE, Ala. - The University of South Alabama men's and women's indoor track and field teams will have a busy week as the Jaguars are slated to participate in two meets this week, competing at the Samford Stand Alone Multi in Birmingham, Ala., on Wednesday and Thursday and the Vanderbilt Invitational in Nashville, Tenn., on Friday and Saturday.

South Alabama will send a group of five athletes - two men and three women - competing in the heptathlon and pentathlon at the Samford Multi midweek event.  Four of the five will be making their season debut - sophomores Chris Taylor (heptathlon), Taylor Young (pentathlon) and Olivia Swan (pentathlon) and freshman Emilie Berge (pentathlon ).  The lone upperclassman, senior Barron Tyson, participated in last week's meet at UAB Blazer invitational 60-meter hurdles.  The heptathlon will be held both days with the pentathlon scheduled for Thursday. 

"We have some talented young multi-event student-athletes this year," Jaguar head coach Paul Brueske said. "It should be fun to watch them compete this year." 

The Vanderbilt Invitational will be the Jaguars first full-squad meet of the indoor season.

Thirteen of the South Alabama participants will also be making their season debuts, including sophomore pole vaulter Sean Collins.   The meet will be Collins' first meet since suffering a season-ending injury at the 2016 Sun Belt Outdoor Championship. Collins won the event last year in Nashville in his college debut and went on to earn first-team All-American recognition during the indoor season after placing second in the event in the NCAA Indoor Championship with a school-record 5.45m mark. 

Also seeing their first action during the indoor season will be distance runners Katleho Dyoyi and Laura Labuschaigne.  Labuschaigne earned third-team all-Sun Belt last season at the league's indoor championships and recorded three top 15 finishes this fall during the cross country season. Dyoyi comes off a strong cross country season earning first-team all-league honors.  

Last weekend, the Jaguars had 13 student-athletes record a top-10 finish at the UAB Invitational. Junior thrower Matthew Weinhold registered his first career win with a 15.70m mark in shot put at the Blazer meet.  The mark was a career best for the Combined Locks, Wis. native and moved him to sixth on the Jaguars' all-time performance list. Fellow thrower Jan-Louw Kotze posted a second-place finish in the men's weight throw with a 17.31m mark and redshirt sophomores Ethan Boyd (16.94) and Thomas Boyd (16.64m) placed fifth and sixth in the event, Ethan moving past his brother for tenth overall in school history in the event. 

Kaitlyn Beans finished second in the meet in the women's triple jump with a 12.26m mark. That jump ranks as second best in the Sun Belt Conference and 17th overall in the nation on the young season.  Beans also notched a top-10 finish in the women's long jump with a jump of 5.34m. 

Rafael Scott matched his own personal record in the men's 60-meter at the event, finishing tied for second with a time of  6.72 seconds.  His time now stands as third-best in the league. 

Freshman Autavia Fluker earned a top five finish in the shot put in her first collegiate meet. The Bessemer, Ala., native recorded a 13.88m mark at the meet and now ranks in the top ten in the Sun Belt. 

Senior Ireland Armstrong cleared 3.65m to match her personal best placing in a three-way tie for third with teammate Jordan Friz and South Florida's Amanda Sinkler. 

"At the Vanderbilt Invitational, we are focused on improvement," Brueske said. "There will be good competition at the meet and I want to see our student-athletes using that to motivate them to more personal records." 

The Samford Stand Alone Multi is slated to begin on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. at the Birmingham Crossplex, while the Vanderbilt Invitational will be held at the Vanderbilt Multipurpose facility and is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. on Friday starting with the high jump.  Live results for the Samford Stand Alone Multi will be here, and the Commodor's meet will be available here.