With only five athletes headed to the Triton Invitational and 24 to the Drake Relays in Des Moines, many athletes will have the weekend free without a meet, giving them more time to prepare for Dual in the Desert and the Pac-12 and NCAA Championships.

Elvin Kibet, who just set a new school 5k-record at the Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, Calif., last weekend, is one of those athletes who will have the weekend off.

Kibet plans on continuing to work very hard and to get lots of quality workouts in over the weekend in order to get ready for the dual with ASU, the Pac-12 Championships, and the NCAA Championships.

“I want to be at [my] fittest level for the championships,” Kibet said. 

Arizona Track & Field Coach Fred Harvey describes his team to officially be in championship season, and looks for his throwers and relay runners competing in Des Moines and La Jolla, Calif., to get fine-tuned and solidified in a lot of areas over the weekend. 

“It’s time to think about getting sharper,” Harvey said. 

Harvey said the meets this weekend are more for training purposes and for fun, so his squad will ultimately be prepared to compete in the Duel in the Desert against Arizona State next weekend and the Pac-12 Championships, NCAA Regionals and Outdoor coming up in the following weeks.

Collins Kibet will be one of the athletes headed to Des Moines for the relay events. After the weekend where he ran the second best time of his career in the 800-meter race, Kibet has continued to train hard and looks to continue improving as the championship season approaches.

“I’m looking forward to see how it goes,” Kibet said. “I believe that in time I will get stronger and I will definitely improve.”

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