The Illinois State track and field team took part in one meet before embarking on their Christmas Break, so after a month off, head coach Elvis Forde and Co. have eagerly awaited the chance to compete again.
On Saturday, the Redbirds will continue their journey toward a Missouri Valley Conference title when they travel to Champaign to take part in the Illinois Open at the Armory on the University of Illinois campus.
The Redbirds are coming off an impressive showing at the Early Bird Invite at Horton Field House in December. Latisha Johnson broke the school and conference record in the indoor shot put with a throw of 50-2 1/2, while on the mens side, JaRod Tobler took home first place in the long and triple jumps.
Still, Forde is a little concerned about the long layoff in between meets.
I know were behind from where we were on December 6 because a lot of kids dont do anything over break, Forde said. However, I expect our middle distance runners, particularly in the 800, to perform well. I expect the throwers to continue to perform well because they are a lot farther ahead. The key here is we dont want to get anybody injured. We want to make it through the weekend and continue to establish our goals from there.
The Redbirds have a healthy squad going for them this time, in particular, sophomore Andrea Mosher, who battled through injuries on her way to a second place finish in the 400-meter dash during the Early Bird Invite.
Andrea missed most of our fall training and was injured during our last meet, Forde said. But she is probably in the best health shes ever been in.
2002 indoor conference high jump champion Gergely Bata returns to the Redbirds for his first meet of the season, while Tobler will be competing for the second time.
This weekends meet will be an unscored event, where the coaches plan to allow everyone on the roster to compete in order to see where they stand on the team.
Were going to use this meet for our athletes to see how they stack up against other programs, Forde said. If they are competitive, they will try to get better and achieve higher standards.
Forde, along with assistants Chris Bailey and Brent Chumbley, have raised the bar high for the athletes, as all three look to lead the team to greater accomplishments this season.
I feel like I have two excellent assistants, Forde said. Theyve both been working hard to improve our stock. None of us were happy with our performance last year. This year, I think our athletes believe in us and hopefully theyll respond this year.
