May 3, 2001

(INDIANAPOLIS) - As club host to the first annual National Track & Field Club Championship the Invaders are committing all of the club's resources and efforts toward staging a successful first year of this event. In an effort to build a successful long-term championship event intended to encourage the development of club competition in the United States the Invaders have choosen to sacrifice their high performance meet series originally scheduled for this year.

Last year's high performance meet series produced 19 marks meeting U.S. Olympic Trials Qualifying Standards. Fourty Five marks met Olympic entry standards with 18 of those marks meeting Olympic "A" entry standards.

"When we first committed to the meets this year, to build on last year's success, we did not know that we would win the bid to host the club championship. Our feeling regarding hosting events, being as new and young an organization as we are, was that we wanted to put all available resources into the club championships. We want to do the best possible job for the good of all clubs throughout the country and we're making a short-term sacrifice for the long-term good of the sport," said Club Director Greg Harger. Added Harger, "while this may restrict the immediate opportunities for high level performances in our part of the country, we are confident in our ability to grow our event offerings for 2002 and beyond. We know there is a demand from last year's initial response to sustain a limited series of high performance meets and we look forward to building just such an annual series."

The high performance meet series will be restarted next year pending additional sponsorship support to sustain the meet series in addition to the club championships. The Invaders have been awarded the right to host to the club championships in 2001, 2002, and 2003.

Club Track & Field Championship Information:
http://www.indianainvaders.com/meets/clubs_competing.asp
http://www.indianainvaders.com/meets/program_rules.asp