Track and Field to Host Lumberjack Invitational Saturday
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – The
Northern Arizona track and field team kicks off its 2010 indoor
campaign Saturday inside the Walkup Skydome. The open meet gets
underway at 8:00 a.m. MST. This will be the first of six-straight
home meets that the Lumberjacks will host.
Interim Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Eric Heins
knows that Saturday’s meet is an event where the athletes can
get back into the swing of things after the long layoff.
“We want to be competitive, but we look at this as sort of a
rust buster,” Heins said. “This first meet is one to
just get out there and see where they are and what we need to work
on in terms of moving forward towards the conference
championships.”
With this being the first meet of 2010, Heins said this is not the
event where you tell your athletes to go all out.
“The athletes have only been back at school for a week, so
they are not in their top physical form yet,” Heins said.
“This competition is something for the coaches to view what
they need to work on with their athletes from a technical
standpoint. Those who are in the running events are looking at
building up their endurance. Further into the season is when we
will pick that event to go for that best mark of the
season.”
Saturday’s meet will feature athletes from NAU, Arizona and
UNLV, as well as many unattached athletes who will compete in
various events.
This will be the first meet that the Lumberjacks have competed in
since the Blue, Gold and Red meet before the winter break. NAU had
13 athletes qualify for the Big Sky Indoor Championships with their
marks from that event.
Aside from qualifying for the Big Sky Championships, three
athletes nearly hit provisional marks for the NCAA Indoor
Championships. Junior Amber Anderson recorded marks of 6.09m
(19-11) in the long jump, and 12.2m (40-0) in the triple jump.
Senior Curtis Durocher threw 18.41m (60-5) in the weigh throw, and
fellow classmate Javier Villarreal threw 16.75m (54-11) in the shot
put.
The Lumberjacks hope to continue their momentum from the 2009
season that saw both teams capture the indoor titles at the Big Sky
Championships here in Flagstaff.
Admission into the meet is $6.00 for adults and $4.00 for
children.
