Missouri State University

SPRINGFIELD - The layoff is over and head coach Ronald Boyce's squad is back to the track this Saturday, March 27, at the Razorback Spring Invitational. The one-day competition marks the Bears' 2010 outdoor season debut.

The Bears will be one of 11 teams running in the invitational. In addition to the host school Arkansas, the field includes Big 12 schools Kansas, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, as well as Iowa from the Big Ten.

MSU boasts multiple all-MVC indoor performers who will compete in the outdoor season. Jodiann Walker (So., Montego Bay, Jamaica), the MVC champion in the 60-meter dash, will lead the sprint group while Staci Nelson (Sr., Chatham, Ill.) will pace a distance group featuring three freshmen. Nelson finished third in the 3,000-meter run at the MVC Indoor Championships and is the next Bear in line to continue the team's outdoor steeplechase success.

Kimsue Grant (Fr., Arlington, Va.) enjoyed a career-best performance in the triple jump at the MVC Indoor Championships, and will look for more of the same as she competes in jump and sprint events this spring.

The Bears are not without key losses. Seniors and Montego Bay, Jamaica natives Yaneika Malcolm, Zaleika Goffe and Mareneika Goffe exhausted their eligibility during the indoor season and will graduate this semester. The trio accounted for 10 all-MVC honors, eight MVC Scholar-Athlete awards and five NCAA Regional Qualifiers while at Missouri State. Mareneika Goffe was the 2009 MVC Outdoor Champion in the high jump and Malcolm was a three-time MVC Outdoor Champion in the 4x400-meter relay and the 2008 MVC Indoor Champion in the distance medley relay.

The field events will start the invitational's action at 10 a.m., while the 4x100-meter relay will be the first track event of the day at 3:05 p.m.