SPRINGFIELD - The Missouri State track and field team opens the 2016 calendar year at the Arkansas Invitational on Friday on the campus of the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. The field events are tentatively scheduled to begin at 2 p.m., with high jump opening the day, while the running events are scheduled to begin at 4:10 p.m. beginning with the 60-meter hurdles preliminaries. This will be the Bears' second meet of the indoor season after competing at the Bob Timmons Challenge at Kansas University at the beginning of December.

Keeping Track of the Bears

• The Bears will compete against Texas Tech, Oral Roberts, and national powerhouse and host Arkansas, along with two other teams in the co-ed event. The meet will consist of five men's teams and six women's programs.
• A total of 23 student-athletes will compete in Friday's meet for MSU in 14 different events. Senior Holly Pattie-Belleli is projected to be the busiest among all Bears competing in five events - high jump, long jump, shot put, 60-meter hurdle preliminaries, and the 4x400-meter relay.
• The Missouri State track and field program is projected to finish fourth according to the Missouri Valley Conference coaches' preseason poll, as announced by the league office on Thursday (January 7). The Bears finished sixth at the MVC Indoor Championship last season.
• For the sixth-consecutive year, the Arkansas women's track and field team picked up a preseason top-10 USTFCCCA ranking. The Razorbacks women's squad is ranked No. 1 in the 2016 indoor preseason poll released by the USTFCCCA last week.
• Senior Robiann Broomfield tallied 20 points with two first-place finishes for the Bears at the Bob Timmons Challenge in December. The jumping standout won the triple jump and the long jump with leaps of 11.94 meters and 5.58 meters, respectively.
• Junior Marissa Kurtimah currently sits with national rankings of 13^th and tied at 22^nd in the 200-meter dash (24.17 seconds) and 60-meter dash (7.50 seconds), respectively.
• Aside from Marissa Kurtimah, three more individuals - Cindy Forde, Oarabile Babolayi, and Robiann Broomfield - crack the top-50 in the nation for their respective events. In running events, Forde currently sits at 32^nd in the 3000-meter run with a time of 10:00.17 while Babolayi is tied at 46^th in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.86 seconds. In field events, Broomfield holds the 34^th best leap in the nation in the triple jump with a distance of 11.94 meters.
• Shani Adams is expected to compete in the 600-meter run for the first time this season. Last year at the Arkansas Invitational, Adams won the event with a time of 1:33.80. Her personal best time of 1:32.26 in the indoor event is good for fourth-best all-time at MSU.
• Including Shani Adams, three Bears in four events finished in the top-three at last year's Arkansas Invitational. Alongside Adams' first place finish in the 600-meter dash, Robiann Broomfield picked up a second place finish in the triple jump with a distance of 11.78 meters. Taking home third was Broomfield in the long jump (5.63 meters) and Betsy Borgsmiller in the high jump (1.50 meters). All three competitors are projected to get a crack at first place at this year's Arkansas Invitational in their respective events.
• There will be preliminaries and finals in the 60-meter hurdles and 60-meter dash at the Arkansas Invitational.

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