Samford Indoor Open Up Next for WKU Track & Field

Videos: Coach Chumbley | A. Williams | D. Hamlin

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – WKU Track & Field will make its first of three trips to Birmingham, Ala., this indoor season as the Red and White head south for this weekend's Samford Indoor Open. The two-day outing will take place at the Birmingham CrossPlex, the same location that the Tops will visit for the Samford Open (Feb. 14-15) and the C-USA Indoor Championships (Feb. 22-23).

"Based on how our practices have looked this week, I think everyone is really excited to go into this weekend and perform at an even higher level than we did this past weekend," WKU Director of Cross Country/Track & Field Brent Chumbley shared. "Because our conference championship will be held at this same venue, we're looking forward to getting down there and being on a banked track for the first time – which runs completely different than a flat track. I am expecting to see the best performance of the year out of a lot of our team at this meet."

Friday's action will include women's high jump and men's weight throw beginning at 7 p.m. CT while the 200-meter dash will take place on the track beginning with the women at 7 p.m. The remaining events of the Samford Indoor Open will begin on Saturday at 8 a.m. with the women's weight throw while track events will kick off at 9 a.m. starting with the women's 5,000 meter.

In total, 16 teams are expected to be represented from the Birmingham CrossPlex. Those programs include Alabama A&M, Alabama State, Alcorn State, Austin Peay, Central Arkansas, Georgia State, Jackson State, Jacksonville, Meridian CC, Mobile, Montevallo, Ole Miss, Troy, Voorhees, Xavier-Louisiana and WKU.

Fifteen Hilltoppers and 19 Lady Toppers will be making the trip to Birmingham.

Fresh off the first Conference USA Athlete of the Week honors of their careers, WKU's Alexis Williams and Dartez Hamlin will look to continue their hot starts to the season. Williams earned C-USA Female Track Athlete of the Week while Hamlin collected the Male Track Athlete of the Week nod. Williams enters the weekend owning the top C-USA women's time in both the 200 and 400-meter events this season.

Last weekend at the Kentucky-hosted Jim Green Invitational, WKU turned in seven top-10 finishes while the team turned in 17 top-10 showings in its December season opener.

This weekend's meet marks the second of three-straight weekends the Tops will be on the road competing.

How to follow WKU Track & Field: For complete information on WKU Track & Field, follow the team on Twitter at @WKUTrackField.

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Players Mentioned

Dartez Hamlin

Alexis Williams