April 23, 2004

LAS VEGAS - Over 200 athletes are expected to compete on Saturday morning in the UNLV Invite, the first home meet hosted the Rebels track and field team in two seasons. Action will begin at 9 am with the field events, while the first track event will start at 10:30 am. The meet is being held at Myron Partridge Stadium and Sheila Tarr Smith Field on the UNLV campus, and admission is free.

In addition to UNLV, other teams competing in the meet include Idaho, Cal State Dominguez Hills, Occidental College, Southern Utah, and Georgia College.

"I'm glad we get the chance to host a meet here in Las Vegas, the more meets we host at home, the better chance we have of keeping the best local athletes here as well as drawing more out-of-state athletes," said second year UNLV head coach Barbara Ferrell-Edmonson. "It's also a good chance to show ourselves in front of the local community, and I hope that we can build on that support."

This is the first of two meets the Rebels will host this season, as UNLV is also the host school for the 2004 Mountain West Conference Championships, held May 12-15. "It's always a big advantage to have any meet at your home track, and hopefully a good showing in our meet tomorrow can give us a lot of confidence and momentum going into the conference championships," said Ferrell-Edmonson.

Expected to turn in strong performances for UNLV are Halima Decree (ranks 2nd in MWC in 100m dash), Kiyota Reed (4th in MWC in 100m hurdles), and Christine Spence (1st in MWC in high jump).