Track & Field Program Announces 2010-11 Schedule

Nov. 8, 2010

CLEMSON, SC – The Clemson men’s and women’s track & field schedule was announced Monday by Director of Track & Field Lawrence Johnson. The indoor season schedule, which features six home meets, gets underway Saturday, Dec. 4 with the Orange & Purple Winter Classic.

“Our schedule offers us the opportunity to see a lot of teams early on in the season that we don’t normally see,” Johnson said. “Because of that, if we’re fortunate enough to be competing in the postseason, we’ll have an understanding of what it takes to beat the top teams. It’s the best schedule we’ve put together in the three years I’ve been here.”

Following the opening meet of the indoor season, the Tigers will compete at home the first two weekends of the spring semester. The Clemson Invitational is set for Jan. 7-8, while the Tigers will face Auburn, Georgia and Miami (FL) in a scored meet on Saturday, Jan. 15.

The other home meets for the Tiger program during the 2011 indoor season will be the JRF Combined Events Invitational on Jan. 28-29, the Tiger Paw Invitational on Feb. 11-12, and the Tiger Tuneup on Feb. 19.

Clemson will travel to Blacksburg, VA for three meets during the indoor slate, including the ACC Championships from Feb. 24-26. The women’s program won its first indoor conference crown in nearly 20 years last winter at Virginia Tech’s home facility, and the Tigers will be seeking their first back-to-back conference championships ever in women’s track & field.

The NCAA Indoor Championships will be held Mar. 11-12 in College Station, TX. The NCAA meet was last held in College Station two years ago, when two-sport athlete Jacoby Ford captured an individual national championship after clocking a time of 6.52 in the men’s 60m dash.

“The facility at College Station is fantastic,” Johnson said. “The venue had a lot of fast times the first year we went there (2008) for the NCAA Championships.”

The outdoor season gets underway in Coral Gables, FL on Mar. 18-19 at the Hurricane Invitational. Clemson will hold just two home meets at its Rock Norman Track, including one that has been named in honor of recent Hall of Fame inductee, the late Bob Pollock (May 7). The team will also hold the Tiger Qualifier from May 13-15.

Pollock directed the Clemson men’s program to 21 ACC championships in cross country and track & field as head coach from 1988-2008.

“With the number of Olympians, NCAA champions and All-Americans that Coach Pollock mentored over the years at Clemson, we felt it was appropriate to put a meet in his name,” Johnson said. “We will continue the tradition of holding the annual elementary school relays that Coach Pollock started at our May 7 meet. It was important to us to keep his name relevant in what we’re doing, because he touched so many student-athletes before he was taken from us too soon.”

The ACC Outdoor Championships will be held Apr. 21-23 in Durham, NC this spring. The Tiger women won the ACC championship last April at their home facility, and will be looking for a repeat as outdoor conference champions at the Blue Devils’ home facility.

Two of the historic and most reputable meets on Clemson’s schedule will be held the same weekend, Apr. 28-30. The Tigers will split squads between Des Moines, IA and Philadelphia, PA for the Drake Relays and Penn Relays, respectively. The Drake Relays will offer a chance for some of Clemson’s athletes to get a feel for the NCAA Outdoor Championships facility.

The NCAA East Preliminary Round will be held in Bloomington, IN from May 26-28. The NCAA Outdoor Championships will be held in Des Moines from Jun. 8-11. The USATF JR/SR Championships are scheduled for Jun. 22-26 in Eugene, OR.

2010-11 Clemson Track & Field Schedule