Track and field will try to match its successful 2013 season when it starts its 2014 indoor schedule Friday at the Blue & Gold Invitational hosted by the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

The field events will begin at 5 p.m. with the high jump, and the 60-meter hurdle trials will kick off the running events at 6 p.m. The seven-team invitational will take place at the Loftus Sports Center in Notre Dame, Ind.

The Huskies opened last season at the Laker Early Bird in Allendale, Mich., where they had several top-five finishes. This season, NIU decided to tackle a tougher event.

“We picked a bigger meet to go to because we want bigger competition and better competition,” said assistant coach Vince Bingham. “If we have a good meet and they can train over break [and] come back from winter break in the same condition it can be an outstanding season for us.”

NIU had a solid campaign last year, breaking 14 school records across the indoor and outdoor portions of the season. The Huskies are returning all four athletes that competed in last season’s NCAA West Preliminary Round: sophomore Claudette Day in the high jump, redshirt senior Meghan Heuer, junior Ali Olson in the 800 meters and senior Sidra Sherrill in the discus. NIU is going into the weekend with its eyes on finding success early in the season.

“Looking at them, they’re sharp, they’ve worked hard, so we’re looking for some great times and hopefully some automatic qualifiers coming off the first meet. That’s our hopes,” said head coach Connie Teaberry. “The focus for these young ladies has been second to none this entire fall, academically and athletically … .”

Bingham said he knows the Huskies have what it takes to compete at a high level. It just about coming out and competing.

“We have a total package,” Bingham said. “If we show up that day it’s going to be some great news.”

This is NIU’s lone competition this semester as they won’t get back on the track until after winter break.

“This weekend is about all the hard work that the ladies have put in all fall,” Teaberry said. It “gives them a chance before they go home for break to kind of see where they are. [It] also give the coaches a chance to see where they are so … we’ll know what they need to work on when they come back from Christmas break.”