Jan. 26, 2006
NORMAL, Ill. -
After a personal best-setting weekend at Illinois last Saturday, the Illinois State track and field team will mix things up a bit this weekend as they travel to Madison, Wis. to compete in the Wisconsin Elite Invitational on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 27-28 at the Camp Randall Memorial Sports Center.
Head coach Elvis Forde and his staff will use athletes in different events this weekend to break up the monotony of competing in the same events week in and week out, and to also try athletes in new places that may add a spark to the mix for the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Championships.
"One of the nice things about this weekend is that we get to shuffle some of the athletes around in different events to see if there is anything new that we can find out about any of them to help the team come conference time," said Forde. "But other than that we are just trying to change things up instead of having them compete in the same events over and over each weekend. We'll rest if they need to be rested and not double up in events to give us a chance to move them around and keep their minds and bodies fresh."
Bronco Meeks and Andrea Mosher will stray from their regular events, the 800-meters for Meeks and 400-meters for Mosher, to compete in the 600-meter run. Running an MVC season-best time of 24.63 in the 200-meters, Lian Lucas will see time in the 60-meter dash, while Devon Williams will focus on the 200-meters.
Events will begin Friday afternoon with the men's heptathlon and the women's pentathlon. Illinois State's Brittney Hourd and Frannie Epps will be competing in the pentathlon with the conclusion of the event Friday evening. Competition will resume Saturday morning with field events beginning at 11:45 a.m. and running events scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m.
Teams competing in the invitational on the men's side are Eastern Illinois, Illinois-Chicago, Minnesota and Wisconsin. For the women, competing teams include Eastern Illinois, Illinois-Chicago and Wisconsin.
In the throwing events, Mark Jackson will look to stay strong after his second and third place finishes in the shot put and weight throw at Illinois. Other notable performances from the men's squad last weekend include Jeremy Doherty's first-place finish in the 3,000 meters (8:43.31) and Brian Glaza not far behind in 8:47.58. Jeremy Johnson also recorded a first place finish in the 60-meter dash (6.86).
Building confidence and evaluating athletes will be one of Forde's focuses this weekend.
"Hopefully some good things will happen for us this weekend," said Forde. "This will give us a chance to evaluate athletes in different events. We need those athletes that are stepping up and working on some things they need to work on this weekend to find that confidence and use it as a springboard for the next couple of weeks."
