The end of Arizona’s indoor track and field season is on its way. There are three more meets before the NCAA Championships, and this weekend, the Wildcats are spreading the team out between Iowa City, Iowa, Flagstaff, Ariz., and Seattle, Wash.
The sprinters, hurdlers and throwers will be going to the University of Iowa Recreation Building in Iowa City. The distance runners will be returning to Dempsey Indoor in Seattle, and the jumpers will be going to Walkup Skydome in Flagstaff.
At all three locations, the team will be fighting for either a provisional spot at nationals or looking to guarantee an already held provisional position.
Of all the athletes looking for a national spot, the women’s 4×400-meter runners are the most anxious for this weekend. After missing provisional by only one second at the New Mexico Invitational, redshirt junior Deanna Sullivan, junior Echos Blevins, and sophomores Georganne Moline and Andrea Menhennet are ready to make provisional this time.
“”I feel like they are capable of running 3:38,”” said sprinters coach Francesca Green. “”Just based on what they’ve been running in practice and what they’ve done at our last few meets, they are ready to do that.””
One runner who wants to improve her position is hurdler LaTisha Holden. She was unhappy about her performance last week, despite running the fastest time of the day. Her goal for this weekend is to bring up her ranking from 15 to 10.
For freshman Brigetta Barrett, this week is her first jump competition in the last couple of weeks. Barrett was out for a couple of days with a shin injury, but this weekend she’s back.
“”I don’t feel exactly the most prepared for this weekend, since I wasn’t able to practice for a couple of days because of the little scare we had,”” Barrett said. “”But I’m ready to get back on track for our main goal at Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships and nationals.””
Barrett is headed back to Flagstaff, where she started her collegiate career.
“”I was so mad, I wanted to go to Iowa, but I heard Flagstaff is a better place to jump. Plus, that’s where I started off my college career,”” Barrett said. “”It’s good to go back to old places because I know I’ve done well there before.””
With the end of the season in sight, there is more pressure on the athletes to qualify for nationals. However, head coach Fred Harvey doesn’t like to use that pressure to motivate his athletes.
“”They are fully aware of the situation,”” he said. “”I don’t like to use tricks to motivate athletes. It is what it is.””
