Xavier Opens the 2017-18 Indoor Season at the Mastodon Opener

Saturday, December 2

Fort Wayne, Ind.

11 a.m.

Xavier University

Mastodon Opener

Xavier Opens the 2017-18 Indoor Season at the Mastodon Opener

12.01.17 | Track and Field

Heat Sheets (PDF)Meet Schedule (PDF)Watch Live

By: Greg Lautzenheiser, Xavier Athletic Communications

CINCINNATI - Xavier track and field opens the indoor portion of its season on Saturday, Dec. 2 at the Mastodon Opener. The Musketeers are opening the season in Fort Wayne for the third straight season.

The Musketeers won five events and set two school records at the meet last season.

MASTODON OPENER

Date: Saturday, Dec. 2 | 11 a.m.
Location: Fort Wayne, Ind. | Athletics Center Fieldhouse
Meet Schedule: bit.ly/2j2JKyA
Heat Sheets: bit.ly/2AmA9Kj
Watch Live: bit.ly/2AJJO0J

PARTICIPATING TEAMS
Ball State (W), Butler (M/W), IUPUI (M/W), Northern Kentucky (M/W), Xavier (M/W), Fort Wayne (W)

INDOOR NOTABLES

• Xavier established seven school records at the BIG EAST Championships last season.

• The Musketeers return three athletes who posted top-five finishes on the men's side in Zachary Polk, Nolan Daniels and Chris Taylor. Polk won the long jump, while placing third in the 60-meter dash and fifth in the 200-meter dash.

• The men will have to replace Russell Platt who earned three medals at the championships. Platt won both the 60-meter and 200-meter dashes, while placing second in the high jump. The senior standout was tabbed the BIG EAST "Men's High Point Performer of the Meet" as he collected 28 points.

• On the women' side, the Musketeers return all-conference performer, Kara Robinson. The junior placed third in the 60-meter dash with a school-record time of 8.81 seconds. The women also return Karmen Auble who placed fifth in the pentathlon and Madeline Britton who took eighth in the 5,000-meter run.

QUOTING COACH ORNER

"This Saturday will be a good test for our sprinters to see how well the past four months of preseason have gone. We know their not race shape this time of year, but it's a great opportunity to get out there and compete. Although many of our distance runners are still on break after the cross country season, we will have most of our guys and a small group of girls racing. For them it's more or less an opportunity to get used to running indoor again on a tight track with dry air."

"On the men's side, I'm excited to see how Chris Taylor performs. For the first time in a while, he's been healthy all preseason and has been able to string together a few consistent months of training. Freshman Luke English and William Manneh should also make a great impact to the men's team on Saturday. Both should have a solid opener and give us something to build on as the season progresses. In the 800-meter run, Grant Stapleton has a good shot at winning the meet after having his best preseason of training yet."

"The women's team has a number of freshmen who I'm excited to see race for the first time, but for this weekend, I think the team will be led by three upperclassmen who haven't competed much over the past two years. Emily Schmidt, Vanessa Johnson and Kaitlyn Magrane have been heathy this preseason and have looked very strong in practice. I know it's going to take a few meets for them to bust the rust off, but I'm happy to have them both back in a Xavier uniform. Additionally, Brooke Hines will be finishing up her eligibility with us before heading back to Australia in what might be her final collegiate race. She will be attempting to break 10:00 in the 3,000-meter run."