Lopes travel to largest meet in nation

Friday, January 19

Albuquerque, N.M.

TBA

Grand Canyon

MLK Jr. Invitational

1/19/2018 8:00:00 AM | Track and Field

Meet Schedule

GCU continues preparation for WAC title defense

By: Fletcher Like

PHOENIX – A week after the first meet of the year, the Lopes will head to New Mexico for the MLK Jr Invitational hosted by the University of New Mexico. Coming off a meet win at the Friday Night Challenge in Flagstaff and a WAC Athlete of the Week award for Tarasue Barnett, the Lopes will look to continue the growth and momentum into their second meet of the season.

"While some of the top college teams in the country will be competing, [USC, UCLA, UTEP] the name 'collegiate' invitational might be a little bit of a misnomer as several Olympic and World Championship post collegiate athletes will also be competing," head coach Flood said of the big meet this weekend.

In the biggest meet of the weekend across the country, track and field eyes will be turned towards Albuquerque, and the Lopes have the talent to shine while continuing their quest for a third consecutive WAC Indoor Championships sweep.

At the site of the USA Indoor Championships, the Lopes, the Trojans, the Bruins and many more will race around the banked track and compete in one of the top indoor facilities in the country. "UNM has one of the top indoor facilities and it will give our lap runners a chance to get experience running on a 200m banked oval," Flood said.

GCU ran on a flat 300m track at NAU last weekend and the banked oval of the 200m track changes things for different kinds of athletes based on their build and what events they compete in.

For Barnett, the track doesn't affect her performances. The reigning WAC Female Field Athlete of the Week boasts top WAC marks in both the shot put and the weight throw and will compete against some of the best throwers in the country from UCLA and USC, similar to her competition in the Friday Night Challenge where the reigning NCAA Indoor weight throw champion and the runner-up were in the field.

For Josh Hamberlin, who owns the GCU all-time record in the weight throw, he will face a loaded field from USC, UCLA and Cal State Northridge in both the shot put and the weight throw.

Ryan Girk will run in the 60m and the 200m and will race in the 60m dash field highlighted by Chris Royster of Altis club and formerly a three-time All-American at South Carolina.

After winning the Friday Night Challenge in the pole vault, Jenny Johnson will look to build on her solid performance after winning the event in Flagstaff. The redshirt senior has won multiple WAC titles in the event and will look to have a solid weekend in a loaded vault field.

"We will be competing in probably the biggest track and field meet in the country this weekend in Albuquerque and I expect us to compete well and keep building towards our title defense," Flood concluded.

The Martin Luther King Jr Invitational will consist of teams from host New Mexico, USC, UCLA, New Mexico State, UTEP, Incarnate Word, Cal State Northridge, Azusa Pacific and many others, along with track club professionals from Nike, Altis, Chula Vista Club and many others.

The two-day meet starts at 4 p.m. on Friday with the men's pole vault and the track events start at 5 p.m. with the 400m. On Saturday, field events start at 9:30 a.m. with the women's shot put and the track events start at 10:15 a.m. with the women's 60m dash.