Track and field is splitting in half for two meets this weekend.

The Huskies are returning to competition for the first time in two weeks as distance athletes head to Allendale, Mich., for the Grand Valley State University Big Meet. The sprinters, hurdlers, jumpers and throwers will participate at a separate event in West Lafayette, Ind., hosted by Purdue University.

Head coach Connie Teaberry said splitting in two groups is not something the Huskies have done often in years past, but the coaches think this is the best way to go.

“We’re able to do it a bit more this year because of our budget,” Teaberry said. “We always want to make sure that each athlete has the best competition available, so we try to make sure that those athletes depending on the meets can get to the places where they can see the best competition.”

The multi-event athletes are one of the groups Teaberry said are making positive strides in practice.

“The pen athletes are doing very well, practice-wise,” Teaberry said. “We were supposed to go to a meet last weekend, but we did not go to it due to the weather, and we just thought it would be a good idea to train through.

“The [pentathlon] is one of those events where they do not have to qualify for conference. You can just select to put [a maximum of] three athletes in it. We are still fighting for those last couple of spots, but they are doing very well.”

The distance Huskies are looking to carry the momentum they earned from some personal best performances at the Indiana Relays into this weekend.

Senior Juliane Totzke’s personal record time made her one of the top performers. Her fifth place time of 17:31.56 in the 5,000 meters automatically qualified her for indoor conference.

Redshirt freshman Leah Raffety, who finished seventh in the event, ended up short of the qualifying mark, but is among the Huskies trying to qualify before the MAC Indoor Championships.

“I think the distance girls are sitting in a really good spot,” Teaberry said. “We had some success when we went to Indiana Relays, and I think they are feeding off of that success.

“I feel the big difference from this year to last year is they are mentally ready. They were ready physically last year, but if you are not mentally ready you’ll never produce the times that you need to. They’re stronger, they are faster, and like I said that mental aspect is there, so now we should see some good times from our distance group again this weekend as well.”