 University of Southern Indiana Track & Field begins the 2016 indoor season Saturday at the Little Giant Invitational in Crawfordsville, Indiana.
Buoyed by the return of two national champions, the Screaming Eagles’ men were ranked No. 14 in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches’ Association Preseason Top 25 Computer Rankings. USI finished seventh at the NCAA Division II Indoor Championships a year ago when Tyler Pence (Springfield, Illinois) and Johnnie Guy (Palmyra, Indiana) finished first and second, respectively, in the 5,000 meters.
Pence, a senior this season, went on to win the national championship in the 10,000 meters during the outdoor season, ahead of Guy, who was second in the event after winning the national title in the 10,000 meters as a sophomore in 2014.
USI’s women will be led by sophomore distance runner Emily Roberts (Fredericktown, Ohio). Roberts is coming off a fifth-place finish at the NCAA II Cross Country Championships this past fall, tying her for the best finish in program history.
An All-American on the cross country course, Roberts earned All-Midwest Region honors in the 10,000 meters last spring after qualifying for the NCAA II Outdoor Championships. She posted a provisional time in the 5,000 meters during the indoor season last year.
The Little Giant Invitational is the first of seven regular-season meets that USI is schedule to compete in and the only regular-season meet that the Eagles’ will compete in as a full squad—USI will run split squads for the rest of the regular-season before reuniting for the Great Lakes Valley Conference Championships February 27-28.
