WSSU Track and Field Set To Begin Season At Liberty Kick-Off - WINSTON-SALEM STATE OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE

Nov. 30, 2007

LYNCHBURG, VA - The Winston-Salem State University track and field teams prepare to begin their season this weekend at the Liberty University Kick-Off in Lynchburg, VA as both the Rams and Lady Rams begin indoor track and field competition hosted by Liberty University.

Some of WSSU top athletes will clash with the nation's best including Liberty's top track & field athletes, including 2007 NCAA Cross Country Champion Josh McDougal, will make their 2007-08 season debuts at the Liberty Kickoff, Friday and Saturday at the Tolsma Indoor Track Center. Competitors from 22 universities and a number of post-collegiate athletes will be included in the field.

Friday, Nov. 30
3 p.m. - The meet will open with the women's pentathlon 60-meter hurdles. Christine Nicewonger of James Madison is the top entrant, with a score of 3,700 points.

3:15 p.m. - The two-day, seven-event men's heptathlon will begin with the 60-meter dash. Six men are entered with scores of 5,020 or higher, including Liberty two-time All-American Brandon Hoskins (Sr., Garden City, Texas). Liberty junior Daniel Newell (Roanoke, Va.) will try to defend his Liberty Kickoff heptathlon crown from 2006.

Saturday, Dec. 1
9 a.m. - Liberty senior throwers Jon Hart (Wyomissing, Pa.) and Clendon Henderson (Meadow, Texas), both of whom competed at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships last season, will look to get 2007-08 started in fine fashion in the weight throw.

9:30 a.m. - Liberty fans will get their first look at freshman Mia Aghaji (Chester, Va.), as she competes in her specialty, the triple jump. She is also entered in the long jump and 4 x 400 relay.

11 a.m. - The running events will get started with one of the most intriguing women's events of the meet, the 60-meter hurdles. Rachel Houseknecht (Fr., Hughesville, Pa.), a high school state hurdles champion in Pennsylvania, will make her first appearance in a Liberty uniform. The race also features a pair of standout post-collegiate competitors. Ebony Foster, a Jefferson Forest High School product, is now representing Nike after a standout career at N.C. State. She was the lone collegiate athlete to make the finals of the women's 100-meter hurdles at the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials. Foster will be pushed by Samaiyah Islam of Real Deal Track Club.

11:15 a.m. - The men's 60-meter hurdles are scheduled to follow the women's event.

11:30 a.m. - Next up on the track will be the men's 60-meter dash.

11:45 a.m. -Women's 60-meter dash.

12:30 p.m. - Shot put competition. He is part of a quality field, which includes Mitchell Pope, a N.C. State graduate who finished second in the shot at the 2007 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships, and Liberty school record holder Dan Royal, competing unattached.

12:45 p.m. - The four sprint and sprint hurdle finals will be held in rapid succession, beginning with the men's 60-meter hurdles and ending at 1:05 with a two-heat final of the women's 60-meter dash.

1:30 p.m. - Jumps. Real Deal Track Club's Amy Seward, the seventh-place long jumper from the 2007 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships. In the triple jump, Clarence Powell (Fr., Marianna, Fla.) will make his Liberty debut. On the track, Kati Albright (Fr., Wake Forest, N.C.) will run the mile, after completing a solid rookie cross country season.

1:55 p.m. - Fans of the 400-meter dash will be in luck, as an hour is allotted for the event, which has 57 female entrants and 65 male entrants.

2:55 p.m. - Heats of the 800-meter run will get underway. Alisa Harvey, who set the U.S. masters (age 40-over) mile record at the Tolsma Indoor Track Center in 2006, is listed in the 800, 1,500 and 5K events. Whichever event(s) the 42-year-old standout chooses to enter should be entertaining, as Harvey, competing unattached, clashes with runners half her age.

Approx. 3:30 p.m. - High Jump

4:15 p.m. - The featured event of the day, the men's 5,000 meters, will take the track.

4:35 p.m. - After the dust clears from the men's 5,000 meters, the women will get set for the 5K.

5:25 p.m. - Women's 4 x 400 relay

Women's Track