Track prepares for A-State Invitational

The track and field team will continue its indoor  season tomorrow as it hosts the ASU Invitational Track and Field Meet. The event will begin at 10 a.m. in the Convocation Center and will continue throughout the day on a rolling schedule.

Both the men’s and women’s track teams have put in countless hours of work throughout the fall semester and over winter break in preparation for their season.

Senior Briar Becton is excited for the opportunity to compete on Friday.

“I’m glad to really get the season started after a long break. Indoor is my favorite season so I’m excited I get to race on Friday, especially at home. It’ll be good to see where everyone is at, so that we will know what we have to do as a team to be more competitive for a championship come conference,” Becton said.

Other teams competing in the ASU Invitational include Ole Miss, Troy, South Alabama, Louisiana Lafayette, Southeast Louisiana, Mcneese State, Nicholls State, UCA, UALR, Harding, Southwest Christian, Arkansas Baptist, Southern Baton Rouge, Mississippi Valley, and Southeast Missouri.  
The men and women’s weight throw events will start the meet, followed by the jumping events (men’s and women’s long jump, triple jump, high jump) and then the pole vault. The starting height for the men’s high jump will be 6’2’’ and 5’ for the women’s.  For the pole vault events, the starting height for the men will be 14’ and 10’ for the women.

Sophomore Savannah Hutchinson  will be competing in both running and jumping events on Friday.

“The invitational Friday will be an exciting meet after months of hard training during the fall and throughout winter break. This will kick off our indoor season, and we will be able to get a look at our competition and see where we stand with the rest of conference,” Hutchinson said.

The running events will start around 11 a.m., beginning with the 55-meter dash and 55-meter hurdles, followed by the 3000-meter run. The next event will be the classic mile run and then the 400-meter run, 800-meter run and 200-meter run.

After that, the Distance Medley Relay (DMR) will take place. The DMR is a relay with four different legs, the 1200, then 400, then 800 and finally 1600-meter leg.  
After the DMR, the 5000-meter run will take place. The 25 laps on the indoor track make this long distance event both physically and mentally challenging. The last event to take place will be the fan-favorite, 4 x 400 meter relays.

Head coach Jim Patchell is excited to watch the hard work pay off on Friday. “The team has had a good break, and we are looking forward to competing again. We have several quality teams entered and it should be a great competition.”