Men’s Track & Field Heads to Prestigious Tyson Invitational

Feb. 14, 2008

Clemson, SC – The men’s track & field team is headed to Fayetteville, AR this weekend to compete in the prestigious Tyson Invitational. A trio of student-athletes from Clemson will be featured in Friday evening’s invitational sections, led by C.J. Spiller in the 60m dash. Matt Clark, a senior distance runner, will compete in the 5000m invitational.

Padgett and Spiller both own automatic qualifying times for the NCAA Championships in the 60m dash. Spiller (6.58) owns the second-best mark in the country, while Padgett (6.62) is fourth this week. Padgett, defending NCAA champion in the event, finished fifth in the invitational at last year’s Tyson meet. Those two will compete against professionals Trell Kimmons, Leonard Scott, Jason Smoots, and Wallace Spearmon, as well as collegians Trindon Holliday (LSU) and J-Mee Samuels (Arkansas). The 60m dash is scheduled Friday for 9:15 PM.

Clark has competed just once this indoor season, but set a Clemson indoor facility record in the 3000m run with a time of 8:15.21. He was All-ACC in the 5000m last season, and competed at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the event as well. Clark will face a strong field and the invitational is scheduled for 8:00 PM.

Others competing Friday from the Clemson men’s team include Cowin Mills in the quarter mile, Chris Spear in the collegiate pole vault section, and Alex Padgett in the shot put. Also making his return to action will be George Fields in the long jump. The defending ACC champion in the event has competed just once this season, January 12 at the Virginia Tech Invitational.

Mitch Greeley highlights Clemson’s competitors Saturday. The reigning ACC Performer-of-the-Week is in the championship section of the pole vault at 2:45 PM. Greeley cleared a national-best 18’1″ last weekend at Virginia Tech.

Corey Brown, coming off a solid effort at last week’s Elite Meet in Blacksburg, VA, will race in the 200m dash at 11:45 AM. He will then run anchor for the 4x400m relay team at 1:25 PM.

Bob Pollock’s distance runners will also be in full force at the Tyson meet. Matt Bruce and Bryce Iverson are scheduled for the championship section of the 3000m at 2:20 PM, while Sam Bryfczynski and Matt Hughes will run in the earlier section at 10:30 AM. The Tigers will also enter a distance medley relay team in the final event of the weekend (4:55 PM).