SMU Opens 2017 Season In New Mexico At The Cherry & Silver Invitational

Friday, January 20

Albuquerque, N.M.

ALL DAY

SMU

Cherry and Silver Invitational

Cherry & Silver Invitational 2017 graphic

SMU Opens 2017 Season In New Mexico At The Cherry & Silver Invitational

Jan 19 | Track & Field

Mustangs Head To Albuquerque This Weekend

2017 Cherry & Silver Invitational
Date	Jan. 20-21, 2017
Location	Albuquerque Convention Center - Albuquerque, New Mexico (Hosted by New Mexico)
Live Results	liverurnningresults.com
Heat Sheets	Meeting Program
Meet Schedule	Cherry & Silver Invitational
Facebook	/SMUTrackFieldXC \| /SMUMustangs
Twitter	@SMUTrackFieldXC \| @SMUMustangs

Jan. 19, 2017

Meet Information

DALLAS (SMU) – The SMU track and field program opens the 2017 indoor season this weekend as the Mustangs head to New Mexico for the Cherry & Silver Invitational.

SMU will be one of 17 teams to compete Friday and Saturday at the Albuquerque Convention Center. Some of the teams sending athletes to Albuquerque this weekend include Adams State, Azusa Pacific, Barton County CC, Cal State Northridge, Eastern New Mexico, Lubbock Christian, New Mexico, New Mexico JC, New Mexico State, San Diego State, Stanford, Texas, Trinidad State JC, UC-Colorado Springs, UTEP, Wayland Baptist, West Texas A&M.

Friday's events will start at 5 p.m. CT/4 p.m. MT, while Saturday's competition is set to begin at 11 a.m. CT/10 a.m. MT. Live results can be found at www.liverunningresults.com.

2017 OUTLOOK:
The 2017 SMU track & field team returns 18 letterwinners and will seek to claim its first conference indoor championships since the Mustangs won the inaugural American Athletic Conference title in 2014. Second year head coach Cathy Casey and the Mustangs are coming off a fourth-place finish last year at The American Indoor Championships. Casey will look to a senior-laden distance group led by Holly Archer, Agnes Sjostrom and Shanoah Souza to guide this Mustangs' team that includes 18 underclassmen.

LOOKING BACK:
After winning the 2016 American Athletic Conference Cross Country Championship in the fall, the Mustangs will now try to carry that momentum into the indoor track and field season. The SMU cross country team were ranked as high as No. 21 in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) poll during the season. Individually, SMU had four individuals receive All-Conference honors and three student-athletes earn All-Region accolades.

ALL-AMERICAN MUSTANGS:
SMU returns senior thrower Tochi Nlemchi and sophomore sprinter Latessa Johnson after both Mustangs earned All-American honors last spring at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Nlemchi finished ninth in the shot put with a personal best throw of 16.77 meters (55-00.25) at the NCAA Championships to earn second-team All-American honors, while Johnson earned second-team All-American accolades after finishing ninth in the 200 meters. Both Mustangs set conference indoor records last year with Nlemchi recording a heave of 16.32 meters (53-06.50) to win the shot put title, while Johnson held off seven upperclassmen to win the 200 meters with a time of 23.48 seconds as a freshman.

WELCOME TO THE HILLTOP:
With the graduation of all-conference performers Craishia Washington and Rachel Scruggs, the Mustangs added some depth in the sprints with the addition of freshmen Alexis Center, Chelsea Francis and India Simmons. Center and Francis will compete in the short sprints (60 meters, 200 meters), while Simmons will focus primarily on the hurdles as well as the 400 meters. SMU also strengthened its distance group adding Hannah Miller and Charlotte-Tara Murphy, who will run the mile and 3,000 meters indoors. Both freshman made an immediate impact in the fall during the cross country season helping SMU end its two year conference championship drought to win its fourth league title in six years. Miller finished as The American runner-up, while Murphy placed fifth as both Mustangs were named to the All-Conference team. Miller and Murphy led the Mustangs to a fifth-place finish at the NCAA South Central Regional and both garnered All-Region honors after finishing fourth and 19th, respectively. Miller qualified for the NCAA Championships and was one of 38 individual qualifiers.

INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR:
SMU has a total of seven foreign-born student athletes on its roster. Five of the seven hail from European countries: Justine Anthony, Archer and Murphy (England), Marlene Gomez-Islinger (Germany) and Sjostrom (Sweden). Miller and Anneke Grogan are both from New Zealand. All seven helped the Mustangs win The American cross country title in the fall.

LOOKING AHEAD:
Following the Cherry & Silver Invitational, the Mustangs visit Norman, Oklahoma for the J.D. Martin Invitational on Jan. 27-28. SMU placed third at last year's invitational after finishing second in 2015.

FOLLOW THE MUSTANGS:
Keep up with all the latest news and information on the Mustangs by following SMU Track & Field Team on Twitter at @SMUTrackFieldXC, on Facebook at Facebook.com/SMUTrackFieldXC, and on Instagram at Instagram.com/SMUTrackandXC. Twitter at @SMUMustangs or Instagram at SMU.Mustangs.