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RICHMOND, Ky. - The Eastern Kentucky University track and field team will open its 2011 indoor season this Friday and Saturday at the annual Kentucky Invitational at the E.J. Nutter Fieldhouse in Lexington.

Competition begins with a selection of field events Friday at 6 p.m. ET and continues Saturday at 10:30 a.m. ET. The two-day event is free to the public.

Participating teams at the meet include: Alabama, Central Florida (women only), Florida A&M, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Kentucky State, Louisville, Marshall (women only), Michigan State, Middle Tennessee, Vanderbilt (women only), Western Carolina (women only) and Western Kentucky.

The Colonels enter the 2011 season featuring a slew of returning talent. Sophomore Soufiane Bouchikhi is ranked in the top-50 in the country in the 3,000 meters after winning the event at the Notre Dame Alex Wilson Invitational last year with a time of 7:59.20 and, in doing so, provisonally qualifying for NCAA Indoor National Championships. He leads a talented men's distance team - also featuring juniors Evans Kiptoo and David Mutuse and sophomore Victor Kemboi - that won an OVC Cross Country Championship in the fall.

The EKU women feature a young sprints team led by the 2010 OVC Co-Female Indoor Track Athlete of the Year Diamond Benjamin. Benjamin won the 55 meters (6.94) and the 200 meters (24.48) at the OVC Indoor Championships last year and will be joined by fellow junior Lutisha Bowen, who is one of the top hurdlers in the conference, and sophomores Bianca Forbes, who set a school record in the indoor 400 meters last year (55.55) and DanHeisha Harding, who won the 55-meter hurdles at the indoor championships last year. Senior Kat Pagano and a strong, veteran distance group won an OVC Cross Country Championship in the fall and will bolster the women's indoor track and field team this season.

The Colonel track and field team returns to action on Jan. 21-22 at the Indiana University Gladstein Invitational.