SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The 2016 Southern Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships are set for Friday and Saturday (Feb. 26-27) at the CrossPlex in Birmingham, Ala, and will be hosted by Samford. This year marks the 81st annual championship for the men and 29th for the women.

Friday’s action will begin at 10 a.m. with the women’s pentathlon events and will be followed by the men’s heptathlon events at 10:15 a.m. Events are scheduled through 7:30 p.m. on Friday, and action will resume on Saturday at 9:15 a.m. with men’s heptathlon events. The championship will conclude on Saturday evening with the awards ceremony at 4:05 p.m.

Western Carolina will be seeking its third straight men’s title and fourth straight women’s title. The Catamounts tallied 228 points on the men’s side and 226 points on the women’s side to sweep both team championships in 2015. Samford will look to build on a pair of runner-up finishes in the team competition last year. 

Tripp Hurt claimed the men’s Most Outstanding Athlete award as a senior in 2015. This year, Samford senior Brandon Hazouri, who earned three track athlete of the week honors this season, will look to take the mantle. On the women’s side, Furman’s Allie Buchalski and Western Carolina’s Xaviera Bass claimed Most Outstanding Athlete co-honors in 2015. Buchalski will be back to defend her crown this year.

In the latest men’s power rankings, which include meets through this past weekend, Western Carolina leads the league with 165.8 points, followed by VMI (137) and Samford (98). ETSU checks in a close fourth with 95.6 points. The women’s power rankings feature a tie at the top between Western Carolina and Samford, both of which have 185 points. ETSU and Furman are next with 89 and 76 points, respectively.

The rankings are determined by the top eight times or scores that are reported by the schools for each event that will be conducted at this weekend’s championships.

This year’s championship is free to the public.  Live results, daily recaps, daily photos and video highlights can be found at SoConSports.com. Additionally, the finals of each event will be streamed on the SoCon Digital Network.

Men's Indoor Track and Field Power Rankings

Women's Indoor Track and Field Power Rankings

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