TOLEDO, Ohio – The University of Toledo women's track and field team will open its outdoor season this Friday at the Miami Blizzard Buster in Oxford, Ohio. Members of the Toledo men's cross country team  will also be competing in distance events. 
 
"This weekend's meet will be an opportunity for some of our athletes who are trying to improve their marks to get an option to qualify for some of the bigger meets later in the year," said head coach Andrea Grove-McDonough.
 
Grove-McDonough said the Rockets are primed for the outdoor season after finishing tied for fourth place the MAC Indoor Championships.
 
"If we can stay healthy, I think we can be competitive at the MAC Outdoor Championships," she said. "Second place is the best Toledo has ever finished at the MACs, so that's the mark to beat. We are going to try to load it up and see what we can do. We'll need our frontrunners to run well. Hopefully we put that together and make a run at it."
 
Grove-McDonough said that number of key Rockets are back in the lineup after either sitting out the indoor season or battling through injuries.
 
"We could have a couple of big guns back in our lineup, so that part is exciting," said Grove-McDonough. "Lou Trois is healthy now. She's a big runner for us. We also need to get Semra (Karaslan) back to 100 percent, which she wasn't during the indoor season, so she wasn't nearly as effective as she could be.
 
"We also have (senior) Stephanie Sherman returning for the outdoor season. She can score points for us. We add in (redshirt freshman) Margrett Watt to the 800 and potentially 1500, as well. She had surgery as a freshman. She was one of the biggest recruits we signed that first year and is really talented. She's been laid off from competition for two years so we will see how it goes. So far, it's been promising."

The Blizzard Buster will begin with field events at 9:00 a.m. and running events at 10:30 a.m.
 
Last Time Out
The Rockets last competed at the MAC Indoor Track & Field Championships in Kent, Ohio. Toledo finished in a tie for fourth place with 68 points. Akron won the meet with 117.50 points. MAC Freshman Runner of the Year and Co-Performer of the Meet Joy Chirchir contributed 20 points with first place finishes in both the 5000m (16:31.57) and 3000m (9:41.09).
 
Miami Blizzard Buster
Oxford, Ohio | Friday Mar. 18
George L. Rider Track 

Schedule of Events and Toledo Participants
Field Events 9:00 a.m.
Field events are on a rolling schedule. Flights will be determined at time of check-in with weight-ins beginning 8:00am-9:00am.

Women's Javelin - Mayson Bates, Allison Vogl , Promise Cross
Women's Long Jump - Sydney Caddell, Amara Okpalaoka
Women's Pole Vault - Madeline Barnes
Women's High Jump - Promise Cross

Running Events 10:30 a.m.
Women's 4x100m Relay - Toledo (A)
Men's 1500m - Cooper Losey, Ben Towler, Gavin Lammers
Women's 1500m - Megan Burmeister, Jordyn Boyer, Amanda Tremains
Women's 100m Hurdles - Alexia Moehling, Mayson Bates
Women's 400m - Megan Massmann 
Women's 100m - Meyah Haywood, Shianne Johnson
Women's 800m - Paige Embaugh, Margrett Watt, Sarah-Rose Sullivan, Audrey Witham
Women's 400m Hurdles - Alexia Moehling, Sydney Caddell
Women's 200m - Rayna Horner, Shianne Johnson, Ava Moran, Mayson Bates, Promise Cross, Meyah Haywood, Amara Okpalaoka, Sydney Caddell
Men's 3000m - Jonathon Hrivnak
Women's 3000m - Maya Hannagan, Hannah Sponaugle, Emma Heslop, Mallory Ferguson 
Women's 4x800m Relay - Toledo (A)
Women's 4x400m Relay - Toledo (A), Toledo (B)