Indiana Open Up Next for Cardinal Track & Field
January 25, 2006 | Track & Field
Jan. 25, 2006
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - With the BIG EAST Conference Indoor Championships now less than a month away, the University of Louisville men's and women's track and field teams will continue their preparations on Friday and Saturday at the Indiana Open at Harry Gladstein Fieldhouse in Bloomington, Ind.
Along with preparing for the BIG EAST Championships, scheduled for Feb. 18-19 in Akron, Ohio, U of L expects to use the meet at Indiana to gain valuable experience on the 200-meter, banked track at Gladstein Fieldhouse, which is similar to the track at the University of Arkansas' Randal Tyson Track Center, host site of the NCAA Indoor Championships on March 10-11 and the Tyson Foods Invitational on Feb. 10-11.
"When we put together our indoor schedule, we tried to look at the venues and the competition so that we could do everything possible to prepare our athletes and our team for what we would see at the BIG EAST Championships and the NCAA Championships," said U of L head coach Ron Mann. "This weekend's meet at IU will allow us to compete on the same type of track that we'll see at Arkansas and next week's meet at Notre Dame (Meyo Invitational) will be on a track similar to what we'll see at the BIG EAST Championships, so this should be very good for us."
U of L enters this weekend's meet, which is set to begin at noon on Friday and 10 a.m. on Saturday, following another strong showing at last Saturday's Illinois Invitational, where the Cards won five event titles and set three school records.
Leading the way for Louisville at last week's unscored meet was junior Arthur Turland with a school record and NCAA qualifying mark of 64 feet, 0.25 inches in the weight throw. The Cardinal men also got strong performances from freshmen Steven Hnat and Tony Belt and sophomore Wesley Korir. Hnat won the shot put with a school record and NCAA qualifying mark of 53-10.25, while Belt earned first-place finishes in the long jump and high jump. Korir placed his name in the U of L record book for a third time setting a new school record in the mile run with a time of 4 minutes, 12.44 seconds. He is also the U of L record holder in the indoor 3,000m and the outdoor 10,000m.
The Cardinal women, who finished fourth overall at UI, were led by throwers ZeNai Savage and Emily Turland. Savage won the shot put with a mark of 46-03.50 while Turland won the weight throw with a mark of 57-09.50.
"We're beginning to become a more complete track and field team because we're starting to see improved results in all of the event areas," said Mann. "With the strong performances last week in a number of events, and the continued improvement by our team as a whole, I feel like we're starting to elevate our program."
Following this weekend's meet, the Cards will have its second straight meet in the state of Indiana with the Meyo Invitational hosted by Notre Dame on Feb. 3-4 in South Bend, Ind.
Players Mentioned
