MOBILE, Ala. – As the University of South Alabama men’s and women’s track and field teams prepare for the Sun Belt Conference indoor championships, set to take place in Murfreesboro, Tenn., Saturday and Sunday, it faces a situation very similar to that of last year’s season finale.
 
Injuries sustained by key point-scoring individuals haunt the team once again; however, a number of student-athletes, some returning and some newcomers, have stepped forth throughout a two-and-a-half-month indoor season that has seen the men’s and women’s teams combine to set seven school records and 32 total new marks on the USA all-time top-five lists, while also tabbing two as Sun Belt Conference Athletes of the Week.
 
Last year, both the men’s and women’s teams finished ninth in overall team scoring. The SBC league office released on Wednesday a predicted order of finish for this year’s competition, as voted on by conference coaches. The South Alabama’s men’s and women’s teams were both predicted to finish sixth.
 
USA head track and field coach Paul Brueske explained the team’s current condition by saying, “For the women, all-Sun Belt Conference performers Noelle Jones (pentathlon/javelin) and Shannon Stever (pole vault) are out for the season, as is one of our top distance runners. Despite these setbacks, however, we should still be competitive and improved from last season. We just need people to step up and compete the way they are capable.
 
“On the men’s side we have some strong competitors. Our distance runners are making steady improvements under (distance) coach (Mike) Barbee’s direction; however, we are still very young and developing in the distance area with six true freshmen and no seniors, but we have some experienced leaders on this team and competitors that have stepped up early. We expect these individuals carry on the momentum they’ve built throughout the season and do very well for us.”
 
The teams currently have seven student-athletes that hold at least two conference rankings.
 
Last season, South Alabama depended heavily on its capacity in the field events to claim points at the indoor championships, scoring over half its combined team points – aside from the combined events – in areas off the track. This year, however, Brueske will employ several runners to compliment the team’s field strength.
 
Men’s Track
Anton Graphenreed, who missed last year’s indoor conference competition due to an injury sustained during football spring training, has claimed three collegiate victories in the men’s 200 meters, an event in which he has led the conference since Jan. 25.
 
Graphenreed won the Birmingham Invitational (Jan. 25-26) 200 meters in 21.38 seconds to move to second place all-time, and he ran a 6.37 second time at the MTSU Invitational (Feb. 4) to become the fourth fastest indoor 55-meter runner in USA history.
 
The Jaguar men’s 4,000-meter distance medley squad of Justin Housley, Spencer Anderson, Alex Shields and Daniel Cooper moved to third-best in the conference after clocking a 10:35.48 at the Vulcan Invitational. Tyler Agee, Spencer Anderson, Tevin Barnett and Mikel Magnusson combined to post a 3:20.50 in the men’s 4x400-meter relay to finish third at the same meet and move into fifth in the conference rankings.
 
Distance runner Ian Bordelon posted a time of 15:48.82 in the 5,000 meters at the same event to earn a seventh-place SBC spot.
 
Women’s Track
Tori Lawson most recently clocked a 10:00.49 in the women’s 3,000 meters to move to eighth in the conference as well as third all-time in USA history. Lawson’s 4:58.80 time in the mile moved her to third in school history and led the conference for two weeks earlier this season. She was named SBC Female Track Athlete of the Week after running a 10:12.06 in the women’s 3,000 meters at the Birmingham ice Breaker earlier this season.
 
Lawson also ran the last leg of the Lady Jag distance medley that broke the school record at the Vulcan Invitational. Along with Lawson, Mary Finn, Kendra Lowe and Leah Hixon completed the race in 12:05.46 – a time that currently ranks second in the conference.
 
Finn and Lowe also combined with Erica Arenas and Erikka Williams at the meet to record a 3:57.22 in the women’s 4x400-meter relay, which is currently eighth best in the Sun Belt.
 
Men’s Field
The men’s field events have been the Jags’ most fruitful source of production thus far this season, with 11 total school records recorded. The men’s weight throw department has posted the most all-time marks, with placements and measures shifting and improving with each meet. 
 
Most recently, Steven Nobles shattered senior teammate Joey Torres’s school record on an 18.09m (59-04.25) heave at the Vulcan Invitational to move to second in the conference. Torres’s previous number-one standing came when he shattered his own first-place record on a 17.99m (59-00.25) measure in his 2012 debut at the Birmingham Invitational.
 
Nobles has recorded top-five finishes in each of his four appearances this season. He finished second in the event at the 2011 indoor conference championships, despite suffering an injury during the competition. Torres finished sixth last season after being hindered by an injury preceding conference.
 
Adam Patterson has been perhaps the most consistent Jaguar all season, claiming six top-five finishes in both the weight throw and shot put this winter. He is currently ranked third all-time in both events after career-best marks at the Birmingham Invitational (weight throw, 17.10m/56-01.25) and Vulcan Invitational (shot put, 15.45m/50-08.25).
 
In his second appearance for the Jags this season, Demetre Baker claimed the second-best indoor shot put measure in school history on a mark of 15.61m (51-02.75) in a sixth-place finish at the Vulcan Invitational.
 
Jarrod Kedzior threw the shot put 14.35m (47-01) at the Birmingham Invitational to move into fourth all-time, and Jeff Long recorded a weight throw mark of 16.00m (52-06.00) at the same meet to garner fifth-place all-time status.
 
Garrett Schumacher’s 4,800-point effort in the Birmingham Ice Breaker men’s heptathlon earned him the top spot in school history earlier this season. At the Birmingham invitational, Connor Smith recorded the school’s fourth-best total of all time, as he accumulated 4,658 points. Smith also cleared 4.65m (15-03) in the pole vault at the UAB Blazer Invite to move to fourth place all-time.
 
Women’s Field
Lindsay Schwartz, last year’s indoor pentathlon champion, got the ball rolling for the Jags this season with a 3,835-point performance in the event at the Birmingham Ice Breaker. The point total also set a new school record, surpassing Florence Edi’s 2005 total of 3,763, and earned Schwartz SBC Female Field Athlete of the Week honors. The total also ranks 23^rd in the NCAA.
 
Johnnie Borries totaled 3,444 points at the Birmingham Invitational to become USA’s third-best all-time, and Leah Hixon recorded 3,236 points at the Ice Breaker to move to fifth in USA record books.
 
Bobbie Williamson recently had a career-defining day at the Vulcan Invitational, as the sophomore throws specialist shattered the South Alabama women’s indoor shot put record on a fifth-place 14.10m (46-03.25) heave, which currently ranks fourth in the conference. Williamson also took seventh in the weight throw (16.40m/53-09.75) to improve her second-place all-time USA standing in the event.
 
Latifah Johnson broke the school’s weight throw record in her 2012 debut for the Jags at the UAB Blazer Invite, with her 16.70m (54-09.50) mark eighth-best in the Sun Belt.
 
After a solid showing to close out the Vulcan Invitational (Feb. 10-11), junior Texas Lutheran-transfer Briana Aiken burst onto the conference scene and is now ranked fourth in the both the pole vault (3.55m/11-07.75) and triple jump (12.32m/40-05), while she is also tied for eighth in the long jump (5.75m/18-10.50).
 
Aiken’s triple jump measure surpassed Louise Faye’s 2009 school record and her pole vault clearance improved her own fourth-place all-time indoor standing.
 
Action from the 2012 Sun Belt Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships, which will be held at Middle Tennessee’s Murphy Center is slated to begin Saturday at 8 a.m. with the first trial of the men’s and women’s combined events, and end on Sunday with the men’s and women’s 4x400m relays.
 
Results from competition will be posted to the Jaguar athletics website immediately following the culmination of each day’s events. Live results can be found by following www.sunbeltsports.org.
 
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).