Feb. 19, 2004

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.--- The UAB track and field team heads to Cape Girardeau, Mo. and the campus of Southeast Missouri State University Friday for its final tune-up before the Conference USA Indoor Championships.

The Blazers will join the host Indians, along with conference foe Memphis, Austin Peay, Lipscomb and Murray State at the SEMO Triangular meet, beginning with the field events at 5 p.m. Friday, with the running events to follow at 7 p.m.

UAB comes into the event off its best performance of the indoor season last weekend at the Tiger Invitational at Clemson. The Blazers set a new school record in the distance medley relay by running a 12:24.47 and Petra Ivanova won the Mile Run to highlight the competition.

The Blazers competed in this meet last year with much success, winning four separate events while coming in second in three others. UAB coach Ray Stanfield hopes even better results lay ahead this weekend.

"All the teams have conference meets next week," he said. "This provides a great warm-up heading into those competitions. It's a good event because they run some different events like a 300-meter and 600-meter dash. It was a great event for us last year because it really got us ready for the conference."