Arizona head track and field coach Fred Harvey has been wearing maroon and gold everywhere he’s gone in preparation for Arizona’s dual meet with ASU and NAU tomorrow.
“”I love to do that,”” Harvey said. “”You have to get excited about rivalries, they’re what make sports great, like the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears. If you can’t get excited about competing against your in-state rival, then what excites you?””
Harvey said he has done this all 21 years he’s been at Arizona, and started his tradition of wearing his rival team’s colors
before a meet when he was a coach at Cal-Poly and his rival was Fresno State.
“”This really infuriates people,”” Harvey said. “”You wouldn’t believe the amount of things that have been said by swimmers, football players and even regular students. It’s really unbelievable, the responses that I get.””
Harvey knows he will have his hands full with ASU, the NCAA indoor track and field champions, especially on the women’s side. No. 23 Arizona is battling injuries to key contributors and the ASU women are ranked second in the nation, so Harvey has pulled out all of his motivational stops.
Senior sprinter Ashley Gadson has already been ruled out for Saturday while junior jumper Shevell Quinley is still scheduled to compete despite her knee injury.
“”We need to be more concerned with getting healthy for (the Pacific-10 Conference Championships) and regionals than a dual meet,”” Harvey said. “”And it’s going to be tough to already be down a lot of points before the meet even starts.””
On the men’s side, Harvey is expecting a battle from event to event and for the meet to be much closer than the Jim Click Shootout where Arizona easily finished ahead of ASU.
“”(The Jim Click) was a different meet. This is a rivalry meet, it’s different,”” said senior sprinter Bobby McCoy. “”This meet is for who is the best team in Arizona and we know they are gonna be tough. We we went up there for the Sun Angel (Classic), their fans were tough and now it’s time for payback down here.””
“”We have a good week of training, and if ASU wasn’t a good team then it wouldn’t mean as much,”” Harvey added. “”But they are the national champions and we can’t just let them walk around on our track.””
Harvey is looking for his athletes to solidify their regional qualification times and to keep building momentum heading into the May 16 Pac-10s in Tempe.
“”We are very well prepared and each team needs to understand that championship season is right around the corner and that their better performances of the season should be now,”” he said. “”We are ready to get it done.””
Saturday’s meet will also be the final home competition for Arizona seniors.
“”They all have contributed in different ways,”” Harvey said. “”From Daniel Marshall winning the triple-jump championship last year to Ashley Gadson walking on and becoming a solid contributor. This class has really shaped its identity and this group really honors this program.””
