ST. LOUIS - Saint Louis track and field will host the inaugural Billiken Invitational at the Medical Center Stadium on the SLU campus Friday and Saturday.

It is the first collegiate track meet ever contested on campus. The facility, located at the corner of Compton Ave. and Rutger St. on the SLU Medical Campus, opened in last fall.

"This is a big weekend for track and field at Saint Louis University," SLU head coach Jon Bell said. "We are excited to bring a large number of local athletes and track and field fans to campus. This is the vision we all had when the facility was built, and we look forward to the first of many track and field meets we plan to host."

The meet gets underway with two events being contested at Wash. U. - the hammer throw and discus beginning at 2:30 p.m. The first events at the Medical Center Stadium are the men's pole vault and the women's long jump at 5:30 p.m. The evening concludes with the 10K at 8:30 p.m.

Action resumes Saturday morning with the javelin at 10 a.m. and the running events beginning at noon. The last scheduled event is the 4x400-meter relay at 5:40 p.m. The complete meet schedule can be found at the link above.

There are a total of 597 entries in the meet. In addition to Saint Louis, other schools competing are Central Methodist, Washington University, Maryville, Fontbonne, Greenville, Webster, Principia, St. Louis College of Pharmacy, Lincoln and Missouri Baptist.

"I am looking for some strong performances out of our athletes this weekend," Bell said. "Many will be running in their primary events. With the McDonnell Invitational and Drake Relays coming up, this is a chance for athletes to earn their way onto the travel list."