MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama men's and women's outdoor track and field teams will host the Jaguar Opener Friday at the Jaguar Track. 

This is the first of two consecutive home meets for USA.

MEET INFORMATION
Event: 2019 Jaguar Opener
Date: March 15
Host: South Alabama 
Site: Jaguar Track
Live Results

FIELD (11)
Alabama, Alabama-Birmingham, Belhaven, Indiana Tech, Jackson State, Mississippi Valley, Mobile, South Alabama, Spring Hill, UT-Tyler, West Alabama

NOTES
-The Jaguar women finished third and the men tied for seventh at the 2018 Sun Belt Outdoor Championships. 
-USA returns eight all-conference honorees, including Newcomer of the Year Hanna-Mai Vaikla, and eight student-athletes who qualified for the 2018 NCAA Division I East Preliminary Round. Two of those returners, senior Sean Collins (pole vault) and junior Emilie Berge (heptathlon), advanced to the NCAA Division I Championships.
-Twenty-six Jaguar women and 32 Jaguar men will compete in the home opener.
-Field events will begin Friday at 2 p.m. with the women's hammer throw. Running events are set to start at 5 p.m. with the women's 100m hurdles. 

QUOTES FROM COACH BRUESKE
On the experience of returning student-athletes: "We normally—but not always—have stronger outdoor teams. I think that could be the case again this year. We've got a lot of people who are good in some of the outdoor-only events like the javelin, hammer, discus, 400m hurdles and steeplechase. I feel good about that. We've had some unfortunate medical issues that seem to keep occurring, but hopefully that will simmer down and we'll keep moving in the right direction. As far as experience, we're looking for those guys to be leaders."

On the newcomers: "On the men's side, we have a particularly strong group of freshmen. We've got good freshmen in just about every event. I think our freshman class should be leaders in most of their respective events in the conference. Some people we're not quite sure if we're going to redshirt or not, so being able to host the first two weeks at home is a great way to let them compete unattached and then we can better make that determination."

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/WeAreSouth_JAGS. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

Join the Finish Line Club, the track and field and cross country specific support club of the Jaguar Athletic Fund.  All donations to the Finish Line Club go directly to support the South Alabama track and field/cross country programs.  For more information on how you can join visit:  jaguarathleticfund.com/finishlineclub

—USA—