NORMAL, Ill. – After the 2019-2020 season was cut short last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Illinois State track & field and cross country program is more than ready for the 2021 season no matter how different it might be.
With the Missouri Valley Conference's decision to postpone cross country from the fall to the spring, there will be a crossover between the indoor track & field season and the cross country season. Both the indoor season and the cross country season will be much shorter than in years past due to the pandemic and restrictions set by certain states and conferences.
"We're excited to actually be having a conversation about competitions considering the fact that we haven't competed since the end of February last year," Director of Track & Field/Cross Country, Jeff Bovee said. "Our athletes have been preparing all the way back in the spring thinking we would have an outdoor season that never happened, then cross country got canceled and now here we are in January having two sports go simultaneously with indoor and cross country."
The Redbirds will kick off the 2020-21 indoor track & field season at the UNI Dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa competing at the Jack Jennett Open on January 21 and 22. Last year the Illinois State multi-event group competed at this meet, but ISU will take all event groups this year.
"We're excited to go up to Northern Iowa coming up this week and getting back to the home of the Valley indoor meet," Bovee said. "We're going to break off a lot of rust that we've had from the last 10 months without a competition."
Following the trip to Northern Iowa, the 'Birds will travel to Allendale, Michigan for Grand Valley State University's Big Meet for the first time since the 2017-18 season. The Big Meet, which is on February 12 and 13, will be hosted at the Kelly Family Sports Center and will be broadcast on the Grand Valley Sports Network for a small fee.
The Redbirds will return to the EIU Friday Night meet on February 19 at Lantz Fieldhouse for the second-consecutive season for their final tune-up before the Missouri Valley Conference Championships.
Illinois State's women's team looks to win their fourth-straight conference indoor title at the 2021 MVC Indoor Championships after breaking a Valley record with 190.16 points last year. The Redbirds' men's team will look to win their third MVC indoor title in four years after tying for second at last year's conference championships. UNI will host the Valley Indoor Track & Field Championships at the UNI Dome for the 14th-straight year from February 26-28.
Following the MVC Championships, any student-athletes that meet qualifying standards for the NCAA Indoor Championships will compete in Fayetteville, Arkansas on March 12 and 13.
ISU's distance runners will be forced to balance both an indoor season and a cross country season all at once because of the postponement of cross country from the fall to the spring. The spring cross country season will kick off at the Lipscomb Winter Classic in Nashville, Tennessee on February 6. This will be Illinois State's only regular season meet for cross country.
"We're looking forward to going down to Lipscomb in Nashville to give our athletes an opportunity to compete somewhere where there will not be snow on the ground," Bovee said. "The distance runners may run some indoor competitions and also run cross country. With the two championships being divided by a mere four days, we're going to have to make some challenging decisions on whether the distance runners compete at one or both of those championships, which will be on an individual case-by-case basis."
The Missouri Valley Conference Cross Country Championships, which were originally scheduled to be hosted by Illinois State in the fall, have been moved to Evansville, Indiana on Wednesday, March 3. Following the MVC Championships, student-athletes who qualify will travel to Stillwater, Oklahoma for the NCAA Cross Country Championships on March 15.
In accordance with state and local guidelines, fans are currently not allowed to be in attendance at ISU Athletics events. Game dates, opponents, times and locations are subject to change.
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